Poverty

==== State funding ====
{{See also|Political corruption|Tax havens|Transfer mispricing|Developing countries' debt|Conditionality}}
[[File:Nigerian Surgery Table.jpg|thumb|right|Hardwood surgical tables are commonplace in rural [[Nigeria]]n clinics.]]

Certain basic needs are argued to be better provided by the state. [[Universal healthcare]] can reduce the overall cost of providing healthcare by having a single payer negotiating with healthcare providers and minimizing administrative costs.<ref name=Blumenthal>{{Citation |last1=Blumenthal |first1=David |date=2014-09-09 |title=Do Health Care Costs Fuel Economic Inequality in the United States? |url=https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2014/do-health-care-costs-fuel-economic-inequality-united-states |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=www.commonwealthfund.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Dastidar>{{cite journal |last1=Dastidar |first1=Biswanath Ghosh |last2=Suri |first2=Shailesh |last3=Nagaraja |first3=Vikranth H. |last4=Jani |first4=Anant |title=A virtual bridge to Universal Healthcare in India |journal=Communications Medicine |date=16 November 2022 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=145 |doi=10.1038/s43856-022-00211-7 |pmid=36385160 |pmc=9667848 |s2cid=253525261 |language=en |issn=2730-664X |quote=any strategy by India to haul its massive population out of poverty must necessarily include measures to provide UHC nationwide.}}</ref> It is also argued that subsidizing essential goods such as fuel is less efficient in helping the poor than providing that same money as income grants to the poor.<ref name=Jha/>

Government revenue can be diverted away from basic services by corruption.<ref name=unodc>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2007-11-13.html|title=Anti-Corruption Climate Change: it started in Nigeria|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|date=13 November 2007|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=22 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422134508/http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2007-11-13.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/04/nigeria-the-hidden-cost-of-corruption.html|title=Nigeria: the Hidden Cost of Corruption|publisher=Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)|date=14 April 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=23 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023234604/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/04/nigeria-the-hidden-cost-of-corruption.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Funds from aid and natural resources are often sent by government individuals for [[money laundering]] to overseas banks which insist on [[bank secrecy]], instead of spending on the poor.<ref name=graft>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278728|title=Banks, graft and development|newspaper=The Economist|date=12 March 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=18 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318081420/http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13278728|url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Global Witness]] report asked for more action from Western banks as they have proved capable of stanching the flow of funds linked to terrorism.<ref name=graft/>

[[Illicit financial flows|Illicit capital flight]], such as corporate [[tax avoidance]],<ref>José Antonio Ocampo and Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona (30 September 2015). [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/tax-avoidance-corporations-impacts-the-poor-united-nations-step-in Tax avoidance by corporations is out of control. The United Nations must step in] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510153325/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/tax-avoidance-corporations-impacts-the-poor-united-nations-step-in |date=10 May 2017 }}. ''The Guardian.'' Retrieved 30 September 2015.</ref> from the developing world is estimated at ten times the size of aid it receives and twice the debt service it pays,<ref>
{{Cite book
 |date         = January 2011
 |first1       = Kristina 
 |last1        = Fröberg 
 |first2       = Attiya
 |last2        = Waris
 |page         = 7 
 |title        = Bringing The Billions Back – How Africa And Europe Can End Illicit Capital Flight
 |url          = https://www.academia.edu/5072598
 |publisher    = Forum Syd <!--Forlag means publisher-->
 |location     = Stockholm
 |isbn         = 978-91-89542-59-4
 |access-date  = 13 April 2022
 |via          = Academia.edu
}}
</ref> with one estimate that most of Africa would be developed if the taxes owed were paid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201211684512130367.html|title=Africa losing billions in tax evasion|work=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]]|date=16 January 2012|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-date=6 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106135130/http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/01/201211684512130367.html|url-status=live}}</ref> About 60 per cent of illicit capital flight from Africa is from [[transfer mispricing]], where a [[subsidiary]] in a developing nation sells to another subsidiary or [[shell company]] in a [[tax haven]] at an artificially low price to pay less tax.<ref name=transparency>{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116188244589715.html|title='Transparency' hides Zambia's lost billions|work=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]]|date=18 June 2011|access-date=26 July 2011|first=Khadija|last=Sharife|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162746/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116188244589715.html|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[African Union]] report estimates that about 30% of sub-Saharan Africa's GDP has been moved to tax havens.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/jan/21/business.theobserver2|title=Western bankers and lawyers 'rob Africa of $150bn every year'|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=21 January 2007|access-date=5 July 2011|first=Nick|last=Mathiason|archive-date=9 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909233820/http://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/jan/21/business.theobserver2|url-status=live}}</ref> Solutions include corporate "country-by-country reporting" where corporations disclose activities in each country and thereby prohibit the use of tax havens where no effective economic activity occurs.<ref name=transparency/>

[[Developing countries' debt|Developing countries' debt service]] to banks and governments from richer countries can constrain government spending on the poor.<ref>The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 2001. ''Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, Progress Report.'' Retrieved from [http://worldbank.org Worldbank.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313170039/http://www.worldbank.org/ |date=13 March 2018 }}.</ref> For example, [[Zambia]] spent 40% of its total budget to repay foreign debt, and only 7% for basic state services in 1997.<ref name="worldcentric.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcentric.org/conscious-living/third-world-debt|title=Third World Debt|publisher=worldcentric.org|access-date=27 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527054809/http://www.worldcentric.org/conscious-living/third-world-debt|archive-date=27 May 2011}}</ref> One of the proposed ways to help poor countries has been [[debt relief]]. Zambia began offering services, such as free health care even while overwhelming the health care infrastructure, because of savings that resulted from a 2005 round of debt relief.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4883062.stm|title=Zambia overwhelmed by free health care|work=BBC News|access-date=27 May 2011|date=7 April 2006|archive-date=20 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720055045/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4883062.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Since that round of debt relief, private creditors accounted for an increasing share of poor countries' debt service obligations. This complicated efforts to renegotiate easier terms for borrowers during crises such as the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] because the multiple private creditors involved say they have a fiduciary obligation to their clients such as the pension funds.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/15/world-poverty-rising-rich-nations-debt-covid-gordon-brown-child-mortality|title=World poverty rising as rich nations call in debt amid Covid, warns Gordon Brown|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 April 2021|date=15 November 2020|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501235245/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/15/world-poverty-rising-rich-nations-debt-covid-gordon-brown-child-mortality|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/21/uk-urged-take-lead-easing-debt-crisis-developing-countries-g7|title=UK urged to take lead in easing debt crisis in developing countries|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 April 2021|date=21 February 2021|archive-date=26 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426033410/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/21/uk-urged-take-lead-easing-debt-crisis-developing-countries-g7|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]], as primary holders of developing countries' debt, attach [[structural adjustment]] [[Conditionality|conditionalities]] in return for loans which are generally geared toward loan repayment with [[austerity]] measures such as the elimination of state subsidies and the privatization of state services. For example, the World Bank presses poor nations to eliminate subsidies for fertilizer even while many farmers cannot afford them at market prices.<ref name=Malawi>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html|title=Ending famine simply by ignoring the experts|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 May 2011|first=Celia W.|last=Dugger|date=2 December 2007|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615032049/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Malawi]], almost 5 million of its 13 million people used to need emergency food aid but after the government changed policy and subsidies for fertilizer and seed were introduced, farmers produced record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007 as Malawi became a major food exporter.<ref name=Malawi/> A major proportion of aid from donor nations is [[tied aid|tied]], mandating that a receiving nation spend on products and expertise originating only from the donor country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24509|title=Tied aid strangling nations, says UN|publisher=ispnews.net|access-date=27 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223203509/http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24509|archive-date=23 December 2010}}</ref> US law requires [[food aid]] be spent on buying food at home, instead of where the hungry live, and, as a result, half of what is spent is used on transport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/160075|title=Let them eat micronutrients|work=Newsweek|access-date=27 May 2011|date=20 September 2008|archive-date=17 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717002543/http://www.newsweek.com/id/160075|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Distressed securities fund]]s, also known as ''vulture funds'', buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply and then sue countries for the full value of the debt plus interest which can be ten or 100 times what they paid.<ref name=vulture>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-21627406|title=Jersey law to stop 'vulture funds' comes into force|work=BBC News|access-date=1 October 2014|date=1 March 2013|archive-date=17 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017234751/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-21627406|url-status=live}}</ref> They may pursue any companies which do business with their target country to force them to pay to the fund instead.<ref name=vulture/> Considerable resources are diverted on costly court cases. For example, a court in [[Jersey]] ordered the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] to pay an American speculator $100 million in 2010.<ref name=vulture/> Now, the UK, [[Isle of Man]] and Jersey have banned such payments.<ref name=vulture/>

[[File:Familiy Planning Ethiopia (bad effects).jpg|thumb|A [[family planning]] placard in [[Ethiopia]]. It shows some negative effects of having too many children.]]