This section discussed several possible early signs and starts of poverty traps. In particularly India, there has been a great trend in the decrease of calorie consumption. This is due to the fact that people are having fewer children than before, they're doing less intensive work, and most have moved to the urban areas where less labor strength is needed. You would think because of their increase in money because they are eating less they would purchase better and more nutritiousness food, but it is the complete opposite. People in India or who are in similar situations use that extra money that they now have available to purchases goods they were not able to before. A better alternative for them is to investing that money on their nutrion or their childrens' nutrition which is actually a huge benefit in the long run rather than just today or tomorrow. But why is that when you look at other countries such as Uganda, when their spending ability increases, their nutrition increases because they are buying better food. The answer to that question as quoted by the professor is that people in Uganda do not have very many options in spending their money as the people in India do.
This made me hypothesize that the more options people are given in how to spend their month, especially the poor, the more likely they are going to substitute the already nutritiousnless food for even a worse option now that they are given the opportunity to spend it elsewhere. This leads to another poverty trap that effects the newly born children. Because their parents are less likely to spend more money to improve their nutrition in their early ages, they are instantly less likely to have strong bodies and are less likely to perform well in school- already causing them to be in a poverty trap at a young age. When they grow older, they are less likely to get a good job that pays a decent wage which continues the cycle of the generational poverty trap.
How can you get the people to see the big picture as far as healthy eating? Even in the US we have people that do not understand that. Look at the number of kids just in our halls that may be living in poverty and they are eating chips and pop - not good foods for your mind and body!
ReplyDelete