Poverty The Public Utility

Public Utilities and The Poor examines an often-neglected aspect of utility policy: the development of new policy directions for utility assistance to the low-income and the elderly. It focuses on the shift in utility assistance policy-making from the federal to the state, local, and neighborhood levels and on the resulting opportunity among private utilities for leadership in developing local programs. In addition, the authors propose that steps be taken to open up the policy-making process to make sure that all groups with a stake in the outcome are included.

The low-income population represents a market segment within the utility service territory. 47 million individuals live near poverty, occupying over 35 million households. Together, these households represent 28 per cent of the $159 billion US home energy market. This book illuminates the interaction between poverty and the public utility.

This book reviews the prevalence and variants of consumer subsidies found in the developing world and the effectiveness of these subsidies for the poor. It places consumer subsidies in a broader social protection framework and compares them with poverty-focused programmes in other sectors using a common metric. It concludes that the most common subsidy instruments perform poorly in comparison with most other transfer mechanisms. Alternative consumption and connection subsidy mechanisms show more promise, especially when combined with complementary non-price approaches to making utility services accessible and affordable to poor households. The many factors contributing to those outcomes are dissected, identifying those that can be controlled and used to improve performance.

Drawing on cases from electricity distribution and other infrastructure industries, and from experiences spanning Asia, Africa and Latin America, this book examines new business models to bring basic utility services to the four billion people comprising the base of the socio-economic pyramid. Access to utilities is key for achieving economic growth and improving the lives of citizens worldwide. Throughout the world, people continue to suffer severe electricity shortages and lack potable water. Contributors to this work, who include academics and practitioners from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, the AES Corporation and several academic institutions, show that access to utilities is key for achieving economic growth and improving the lives of citizens worldwide. They offer analysis of business models in utilities serving the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) through market mechanisms and showcase innovations in organizational processes and services in order to effectively reach the BOP. The book also discusses the key factors in developing profitable business ventures that can engage the world's four billion poor. The book is aimed at both academics with an interest in applied research in business and the role of markets in servicing the poor worldwide, practitioners, public sector organizations and NGOs engaged in supplying,financing, and managing microcredit and market initiatives with low-income sectors, and international utility companies and other firms seeking to expand in emerging markets. In addition, the book will be useful as a text in a variety of courses and will give readers a deeper understanding of the potential for business to alleviate poverty, as well as inspire a deeper involvement in social issues as a career alternative or voluntary activity.

It examines the problem of finding an optimal set of prices for these public monopolies when the objective function is the minimization of the level of poverty. (AU).

Poverty is a serious problem in the United States, more so than commonly imagined, and more so than in other industrialized nations. Most Americans adhere to an individualistic perspective: they believe poverty is largely the result of people being deficient in intelligence, determination, education, and other personal traits. Poverty and Power, Fourth Edition challenges this viewpoint, arguing that poverty arises from the workings of four key structural systems—the economic, the political, the cultural, and the social—and ten obstacles to economic justice, including unaffordable housing, inaccessible health care, and racial and gender discrimination. The author argues that a renewed war on poverty can be successful, but only through a popular movement to bring about significant change in the workings of American economic, political, and cultural institutions. New to this Edition Enhanced conversation on why the cultural theory of poverty has such a strong appeal to the American public develops students’ critical thinking skills (Chapter 3) New segment on the influence of job seekers’ physical appearance on hiring decisions showing that success is not simply a matter of education, skills, and training (Chapter 4) New data on the “job availability problem” explains in detail why the monthly headline unemployment number is misleading, and new content on the 2021 upsurge of quits on the part of American workers portrays efforts on the part of ordinary people to improve their lives (Chapter 5) New content on how corporations have become increasingly assertive political players explores the dramatic increase in corporate lobbying efforts, the rise of billionaire political activists, and the creation of a powerful conservative political infrastructure in the United States (Chapter 6) Greater attention to racially segregated and resource-deprived Black communities covers the extraordinary hardships experienced by the residents of these areas, while a new section on the geographical isolation of the affluent discusses how isolation affects wealthy people’s beliefs and perceptions about poverty and what policies they deem acceptable (Chapter 8)

Inclusive." --Résumé de l'éditeur.

Offers a look at the causes and effects of poverty and inequality, as well as the possible solutions. This title features research, human stories, statistics, and compelling arguments. It discusses about the world we live in and how we can make it a better place.