The poverty problem and the industrialization solution

Despite decades of effort, abject poverty remains a serious problem in many countries around the world. The effects of five approaches to poverty alleviation-foreign aid, microfinance, social entrepreneurship, base of the pyramid initiatives, and the establishment of property rights among the abjectly poor-are briefly reviewed. While each of these approaches has some benefits, none have fulfilled their promise of poverty alleviation. Ironically, as these efforts have gone forward, international industrialization has had a more significant impact on poverty alleviation in at least some countries.