Poverty is an unnecessary form of human degradation and badly conceived economics. Our thesis is that poverty can be reduced, if not eradicated, both locally and globally. But this will occur only if we change our shared narratives about global free enterprise, remind ourselves that poverty is a system, and conceive of poverty alleviation as a "bottom-up" project. There is no "one size fits all" for poverty reduction. Rather, poverty is a system and must be addressed locally. It is our aim, as it is the aim of the United Nations, the World Bank, and many other organizations, to erase it from our vocabulary and from this planet.
With a series of case studies that accompany each chapter, this book should assist readers in thinking about poverty alleviation from a number of perspectives, from bottom-up entrepreneurial projects, local-corporate ventures, with public–private partnerships, from focused philanthropy, with education and health care initiatives, and agriculture reforms in rural communities, all with the aim of creating a win-win result for local and partnership individuals, organizations, and communities.
The book should be useful in various undergraduate and graduate courses on ethics, applied ethics, developing economic systems, and poverty.
Patricia H. Werhane, Ph.D., is the Wicklander Chair Emerita at DePaul University and Ruffin Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia. Werhane was founding editor of Business Ethics Quarterly, a Rockefeller Fellow at Dartmouth, and Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge. In 2008 she was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in business ethics by Ethisphere Magazine. She is the author or editor of over 30 books including Adam Smith and his Legacy for Modern Capitalism and Moral Imagination and Management Decision-Making. She is also the co-producer of an Emmy award-winning documentary series, Big Questions.
Regina W. Wolfe , Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Catholic Theological Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and Senior Wicklander Fellow, DePaul University Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. She is co-author of Global Women Leaders: Breaking Boundaries and co-editor of Systems Thinking and Moral Imagination.
Lisa H. Newton, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita in Philosophy at Fairfield University, Connecticut. Her books include Ethics and Sustainability: Sustainable Development and the Moral Life (2002), Business Ethics and the Natural Environment (2005), several editions of Watersheds (cases in environmental ethics), Wake-Up Calls (with David Schmidt; cases in business ethics), and Taking Sides (ed., with Elaine Englehardt and Michael Pritchard, controversies in business ethics). A study in agricultural ethics, Urban Agriculture, is forthcoming in 2020.
