Fight Poverty

Become a capitalist!

At the Foundation for Teaching Economics, we've been demonstrating the importance of free markets when we conduct professional development seminars for teachers around the country. We provide teachers with information and curriculum materials that address the question, "Is capitalism good for the poor?"

The poor who are addressed in our lessons are the absolute poor -- the more than 1 billion people around the world who live on less than $1 per day. They have nothing, and they have no way of acquiring anything because of the governmental and social institutions that surround them.

One big reason people in more advanced societies are able to enjoy a more comfortable existence is that they are able to purchase items by going into debt. Americans take that for granted. Any person living in absolute poverty would love to trade positions with any one of us and walk in our shoes -- to have a job and be able to borrow money for a car or a home.

It's a shame that America's youth do not understand these basic economic concepts. If they did, they'd be less inclined to join globalization protests because they would understand why the economies of China and India grew by 8.8 percent and 6 percent, respectively, last year.

In fact, the recent success of developing countries at fighting poverty could be an Economics 101 lesson for today's American classroom. In East Asia and the Pacific region alone, the number of poor dropped from 472 million in 1990 to 271 million in 2001. By 2015, that number should shrink to 19 million, according to the World Bank.