The Brookings Cafeteria

The number of people worldwide living in extreme poverty—defined as living on $1.25 a day or less—was cut in half between 1990 and 2010. Yet more than one billion people still subsist at this level, and about three billion live at under $2.50 a day. , a fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings, discusses the possibility that by 2030 the world might eradicate the most extreme poverty. He explains how we measure the problem, what the private sector and aid agencies can do about it, whether or not current targeting approaches are effective, and talks about the poverty problem in the United States.  Chandy, who is a scholar in the , says that while a lot of progress has been made over the last decade in reducing poverty, continued progress is: going to require new approaches and new efforts to get us closer to that zero mark. That would include bringing to an end some of the persistent conflicts in low-income countries; bringing marginalized communities into the orbit of their economies;