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What the Market Does to People: Privatization, Globalization and Poverty

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Poverty persists despite a rising GDP. How can this be. David Macarov's heavily footnoted work attempts an answer to the conundrum in a relatively short space of 170 pages. Basically, he attributies aggravation of problem to institutional frameworks undergirding globalization and privatization, or, put another way, to those institutions processing the resurgence of laissez-faire capitalism. Thus, the work contains considerable data with which to challenge what some like to term The New World Order. Not only has neo-liberalism failed to improve the lot of the poor, he points out, but statistics indicate their lot has worsened as a result of heralded neo-liberal programs. So there is much here to digest.

Nonetheless, the historical aspect is not neglected. Chapter VI deals explicitly with previous programs aimed at easing or eliminating problems of poverty.That these have largely failed comes as little surprise, since Macarov occasionally asserts there can be no wealthy class without a poverty class to exploit. Yet the work contains very little economic theory, contrary to what some might expect. Rather the slender volume functions best as an overview of the problem, replete with facts and figures, and as a clearing house for related literature. Its breadth may also work well as an introduction if the reader is not expecting a treatment that popularizes. (I like the way he illustrates the slippery nature of defining "poverty", and how statistics, particularly "averages", can be manipulated.)

Two noteworthy reservations. I think Macarov feels the root cause of poverty resides in capitalism itself, with its dynamics and exigencies. But this is never made clear. Thus readers can't be sure whether poverty is an inevitable consequence of the market or merely an unrefined byproduct -- surely a key distinction for addressing the problem. Also -- and less significantly -- Clarity Press did readers no favor by using what must be a size 6 font to print the text. So please pass the bifocals!