The Nature of Mass Poverty [1] is an economics book by John Kenneth Galbraith published in 1979.
on The Nature of Mass Poverty, John Kenneth Galbraith reflects on his experiences as ambassador to India to explain the causes and solutions for poverty. He begins by differentiating so-called "case poverty" of individuals (as detailed years earlier in The Affluent Society) from "mass poverty", largely observed in rural areas of the developing world.
Galbraith undergoes a variety of different explanations of poverty, e.g. climate, mountains, access to harbours, raw materials, or culture or political system. A classical galbraithian is his comparison of a train journey in eastern Europe 1860 and 1960 and points out, that the effect of communism on economics was rather limited - the train basically being the same, the relative differences in economic status kept unchanged as well, (eastern) Germany and Czechoslovakia leading and Romania being the last. The same applies to Asia, where "being Chinese" were of more effect to local wealth than climate or local political system.
Galbraith then lays out two arguments with regards to mass poverty. First, he contends that many of the causes attributed to the conditions of the rural poor (governmental corruption, lack of education) are in fact both cause and effect of poverty. The poor being perfectly adapted to their labour intense status, an accommodation to poverty makes it culturally ingrained and the poor and their offspring tend to stay in that vicious circle. Galbraith points out that most solutions for poverty from the West (capital investment, improved organization and technology, increased agricultural production) are those the developed nations can provide—but often fail to consider local accommodation to poverty (compare Axelle Kabou).
Drawing on his observations in postwar Western Germany, which faced an enormous amount of displaced persons after the war, he concludes that emigration was not a problem but in combination with the high level of education a base of the economic success and reconstruction effort. Galbraith recommended for India improvement on general education on the one hand and a focused help for those willing to escape out of the circle of poverty. In general, as well for developed countries, emigration and embracing other cultures were not a problem but a sign of action and willingness to escape unsustainable status.
The more literate and informed a population, the more influences and cultures they have available as role models, and the more motivated its members are to escape perpetual poverty. His primary Indian example is the Punjab region, a cross road of trade and different cultural influences where the ambition to maintain a high literacy and education and the local mixture of Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim accelerated more economic growth relative to poorer southern provinces.