San Antonio College Library

Much popular belief, and public policy, rests on the idea that those born into poverty have it in their powers to escape. But the persistence of poverty and ever-growing economic inequality around the world has led to many economists to seriously question the model of individual economic self-determination when it comes to the poor. In this book, the contributors argue that there are many conditions that may trap individuals, groups, and whole economies...

In this book, Eisinger seeks to unravel the puzzle of America's hunger. He asserts that unlike problems such as drug use, teenage pregnancy, or crime, this is a problem that can be solved. He believes that the perception of hunger and responses to it emerge from a complex intellectual, political, and social context. He searches for a meaningful definition of hunger and examines the structure and funding of government food assistance programs, the...

Presents a series of essays by professional writers and scholars on the subject of world poverty and addresses issues such as immigration and open border ethics, health and education, agricultural subsidies as well as provides biographical sketches on a number of noted individuals such as Bill Gates, George McGovern, and Robert McNamara.

"During the 1960s and 1970s, policymakers in three presidential administrations tried to replace the nation's existing welfare system with a revolutionary program to guarantee Americans' basic economic security. Surprisingly from today's vantage point, guaranteed income plans received broad bipartisan support in the 1960s. The failure of these proposals marked the federal government's last direct effort to alleviate poverty among the least advantaged...

"In personal profiles of ten families across the nation, from a Pacific Islander family in Hawaii to a homeless family in a wealthy New York City suburb, journalist Martha Shirk depicts the realities of life for children below the poverty line. She takes readers deep into the lives of families in poverty - lives sometimes marked by childhood abuse, parental loss, and long-term violence - and with each family explores their prospects for moving above...

"The Real Environmental Crisis takes a close look at the major environmental and resource issues - population growth; climate change; agriculture and food supply; our fisheries, forests, and fossil fuels; water and air quality; and solar and nuclear power. Hollander finds compelling evidence that economic development and technological advances can relieve such problems as food shortages, deforestation, air pollution, and land degradation, and can...

This book provides a comprehensive defense of third-world sweatshops. It explains how these sweatshops provide the best available opportunity to workers and how they play an important role in the process of development that eventually leads to better wages and working conditions. Using economic theory, the author argues that much of what the anti-sweatshop movement has agitated for would actually harm the very workers they intend to help by creating...

Between 1964 and 1972, American liberals radically transformed their welfare philosophy from one founded on opportunity and hard work to one advocating automatic entitlements. Gareth Davies' book shows us just how far-reaching that transformation was and how much it has to teach anyone engaged in the latest round of debates over welfare reform in America. When Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty," he took great care to align his ambitious program...

The author proposes that Africa abandon the economic models of the West and build upon its own indigenous institutions in order to improve its prosperity.