Caring for the Poor, at Nation Level
A lot of us dislike pro-poor policies to varying degrees. Reasons include misuse and abuse of such schemes, leakage (corruption), and resentment that tax payers money is “diverted” to the poor. But, says Karthik Muralidharan in Accelerating India’s Development , we should support such schemes for 3 reasons. Altruism : If one is charitable at a personal level, then surely one should support such measures “at scale”. But, yes, the effectiveness of the state has to improve. Patriotism : If one wants the country to be strong economically, a strong and productive workforce is key. That requires education, health and justice systems to be well established, so we should support policies improving those. Selfishness : The elites and middle class suffer too. An inefficient workforce translates to lower productivity and higher cost of goods. An ineffective health system means the cost of illness has to be borne by individuals. ~~ There are many who b...