Poverty

==== Economic freedoms ====
{{see also|Economic freedom|Red tape}}
Corruption often leads to many [[civil service]]s being treated by governments as employment agencies to loyal supporters<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21678243-regions-countries-desperately-need-reform-their-public-sectors-aiwa-yes|title=Arab bureaucracies|publisher=economist.com|access-date=5 January 2016|date=14 November 2014|archive-date=16 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116150858/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21678243-regions-countries-desperately-need-reform-their-public-sectors-aiwa-yes|url-status=live}}</ref> and so it could mean going through 20 procedures, paying $2,696 in fees, and waiting 82 business days to start a business in [[Bolivia]], while in [[Canada]] it takes two days, two registration procedures, and $280 to do the same.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Dipak Das Gupta|author2=Mustapha K. Nabli|author3=World Bank|title=Trade, Investment, and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Engaging With the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCZcHibu5OIC&pg=PA122|year=2003|publisher=World Bank Publications|isbn=978-0-8213-5574-9|page=122|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=17 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517073339/https://books.google.com/books?id=hCZcHibu5OIC&pg=PA122|url-status=live}}</ref> Such costly barriers favor big firms at the expense of small enterprises, where most jobs are created.<ref name=cato>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/research/articles/vas-0109.html |title=Ending mass poverty |publisher=cato.org |access-date=27 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524064149/http://www.cato.org/research/articles/vas-0109.html |archive-date=24 May 2011 }}</ref> Often, businesses have to bribe government officials even for routine activities, which is, in effect, a tax on business.<ref name="macroeconomics1">Krugman, Paul, and Robin Wells. ''Macroeconomics''. 2. New York City: Worth Publishers, 2009. Print.</ref> Noted reductions in poverty in recent decades has occurred in China and India mostly as a result of the abandonment of [[collective farming]] in China and the ending of the [[central planning]] model known as the [[License Raj]] in India.<ref name=bbc1>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5407770.stm|title=Can aid bring an end to poverty|work=BBC News|access-date=28 May 2011|first=Mark|last=Doyle|date=4 October 2006|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402201358/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5407770.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/55427.stm|title=India:the economy|work=BBC News|date=3 December 1998|access-date=5 July 2011|archive-date=3 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803020137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/55427.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/24/poor_little_rich_country?page=0,1|title=Poor Little Rich Country|publisher=foreignpolicy.com|date=24 June 2011|access-date=5 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628204700/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/24/poor_little_rich_country?page=0,1|archive-date=28 June 2011}}</ref>

The [[World Bank]] concludes that governments and feudal elites extending to the poor the right to the land that they live and use are 'the key to reducing poverty' citing that land rights greatly increase poor people's wealth, in some cases doubling it.<ref name=landrights>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3006562.stm|title=Land rights help fight poverty|publisher=bbcnews.com|access-date=23 January 2013|date=20 June 2003|archive-date=16 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416033026/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3006562.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Providing secure tenure to land ownership creates incentives to improve the land and thus improves the welfare of the poor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deininger |first=Klaus |date=2003 |title=Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/15125 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |series=World Bank Policy Research Report |language=en-US |location=Washington, DC|doi=10.1596/0-8213-5071-4 |isbn=978-0-8213-5071-3 }}</ref> It is argued that those in power have an incentive to not secure property rights as they are able to then more easily take land or any small business that does well to their supporters.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/09/12/who-owns-what?partnerize_clickref=1011lwUDLckW|title= Who owns what? Enforceable property rights are still far too rare in poor countries|publisher=economist.com|access-date=24 June 2023|date=12 September 2020 }}</ref>

Greater access to markets brings more income to the poor. Road infrastructure has a direct impact on poverty.<ref name="GCR">{{cite web|url=http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm |title=Global Competitiveness Report 2006, World Economic Forum |publisher=weforum.org |access-date=28 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619083349/http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%2BCompetitiveness%2BReport/index.htm |archive-date=19 June 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adbi.org/conf-seminar-papers/2004/11/26/830.infrastructure.poverty.reduction/|title=Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction: Cross-country Evidence|publisher=abdi.org|access-date=28 May 2011|archive-date=26 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926192919/http://www.adbi.org/conf-seminar-papers/2004/11/26/830.infrastructure.poverty.reduction/|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, migration from poorer countries resulted in $328 billion sent from richer to poorer countries in 2010, more than double the $120 billion in official aid flows from [[OECD]] members. In 2011, India got $52 billion from its [[diaspora]], more than it took in [[foreign direct investment]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894664&story_id=14586906|title=Migration and development: The aid workers who really help|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=27 May 2011|date=8 October 2009|archive-date=10 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310212904/http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894664&story_id=14586906|url-status=live}}</ref>