Group items tagged

1.The article, which reports an increase in poverty levels in Italy, discusses about both relative and absolute poverty. Relative poverty places the concept of poverty in a social context, people are defined poor when compared to those around them but still have money to survive, relative poverty is based on the cultural environment of the person. Absolute poverty, on the other hand, is when people don't have enough money to meet a basic threshold that is need by everyone to survive, and so cannot afford food, clothing, a house, heating etc. which is what is needed for survival.  2.The biggest causes of poverty in Italy are: unemployment and health/disability. According to the article Italy has been facing its greatest post-war recession, war can also be a huge cause of poverty in countries. Also, the article talks about how in the southern part of Italy people are poorer, when compared to the north, that is also because in Italy southern regions are less economically developed compared to north regions.  3.The article discusses about some consequences of poverty in Italy, by saying that poverty has risen unemployment and has declined purchasing power which have been caused by an increase in taxes which aimed at strengthening the public's finances. The article then discusses about more of personal consequences for Italians which have been considered poor, with poverty levels rising those Italians can no longer afford heating for their homes, holidays away from Italy and purchasing/eating meat. 

1. The article talks about both relative and absolute poverty. Depending on the conditions of the households, the level of poverty changes (mix of them in Italy).   2. Some of the possible causes of poverty are because there is high unemployment and higher lack of skills in the southern regions of Italy which are less developed and account for high amounts of poverty in the country. Another cause is that some families have many children, meaning there is less disposable income (they cannot work) and there are higher costs to pay for them. This is also true when the heads of the families are unemployed (unemployment benefits are not enough to support a family) or factory workers (below minimum wage, low wages, lots of hours, low skilled jobs, structural unemployment, firing because of recession). Another issue is when there are two or more elderly people (do not work, or retirement funds are lower with recession, retirement age has increased therefore with aging less productive and lower wages, less disposable income because they have to be sustained). The recession is the main cause of the unemployment and lack of disposable income, therefore purchasing power and consumption have decreased, especially because of a high increase in taxes.   3. The consequences are that people are going below the poverty line and cannot afford necessities (the amount of people in absolute poverty continues to increase, as well as the one in relative poverty). This means that people cannot afford certain key necessities; some mentioned in the article were heating, holidays and meat. 

1) Distinguish whether or not the article is talking about absolute or relative poverty. 2) According to the article what are some possible causes of poverty. 3) According to the article what seem to be some of the consequences of poverty. 1) In this article, the Untied States are described as having a large amount of relative poverty. 2) The cause of the poverty is stated to be the lack of attention to issues by the Government and media involving poverty. The effects of this may be a poorly adjusted minimum wage to inflation, the lack of support for those in relative poverty and the removal of unemployment benefits. 3) It is implicated in the article that there is a poor level of attention to this issue, and that the level of equality is low. The reason to this may be the higher efficiency in an economy at a low equality.