Economics and Causes of Poverty

What happens to be more strongly associated with absolute poverty- family structure, income inequality or economic growth? Why do you think this is the case? Well the Economic Glossary defines absolute poverty as "The amount of income a person or family needs to purchase an absolute amount of the basic necessities of life. These basic necessities are identified in terms of calories of food, BTUs of energy, square feet of living space, etc." So based off of this definition and information from the book I'd have to say economic growth. 

What appears to be more strongly associated with relative poverty? Why?  Income inequality appears to be more strongly associated with relative poverty because even though living standards and real incomes have grown, the gains in income and wealth are being unevenly distributed.

What effect did family structure have on poverty? Was its effect on poverty stronger or weaker than economic growth and income inequality?  As stated in the book, family structure had a larger negative effect on blacks however from 1990-1999 all ties with family structure and poverty disappeared.

What did you say were the causes of poverty in your initial Perspectives Paper? Are any of those causes listed in the previous chart? I put that some people were born into poverty and others make themselves poor. I've heard a lot of testimonies of people who were once in good economic standing but put themselves into poverty. A few of the ones I didn't even really consider that were listed on the chart were language barriers or culture shock.

I thought the poverty simulations were great. Like one of the guys said it's a way to educate people the struggles of families. When you're in someone else's shoes rather than just hearing about it, you get a completely different outlook of the issue. While watching the clips I kept thinking about how chaotic everything looked, from the people to the noises. People in poverty are underestimated, they go through things like that everyday-sometimes having to stand in lines for hours or the whole day and get absolutely nothing accomplished. I feel bad for them because it's almost like a behind the scenes thing. We only hear and see and know about the homeless people walking around campus or the single mom with 3 kids or the 13 year old who robbed a corner store when there are actually people who are in poverty, that really are trying to have better lives for themselves and their families.