The rise in the use of food banks doesn’t necessarily mean poverty is rising, as many commentators have claimed. Paradoxically, it this rise has occurred while official poverty rates have been falling. This doesn’t mean food banks are a bad thing, simply that they do not necessarily indicate increases in poverty.
Poverty
Why Food Bank Use is Increasing, Despite a Reduction in Poverty
Many people believe that food banks are a necessary evil, a community response to the failure of governments to address increasing poverty, and even a yellow canary for our society. The evidence, however, does not support the notion that food bank use and poverty rates are closely linked.
‘Poverty’ Calls For Precision
“Any program or initiative must have a clearly defined problem it intends to solve. Anything less risks squandering scarce resources, including those of people’s time, interests and energy.”
Minimum Wage Hikes Miss The Target and Cause Collateral Damage: High minimum wages are a bad strategy for fighting poverty
Minimum wage increases are a flawed strategy for fighting poverty because they do not accurately target needy families, and because they contribute to higher unemployment.
Featured News
Why University?
In this essay, I explain that young people should come to university to be educated, and not to become credentialed; the public should support universities because universities educate young people, not because they produce credentialled workers. Why should a...
A Lamentable Tale of Two Colonies
During the whole of recorded history, the empire has been the most constant and common form of political organization. A basic, self-evident feature of all empire-building has been the successful occupation of the lands of the local, Indigenous inhabitants by outside...
Partying in Joburg
Joburg delegates were there to solve the problems of the poor but apparently they didn’t want to see them in person.
On Inner City Public Policy
Although the inner city is intimately involved with the public sector, this fact may inhibit the ability of its residents to lead dynamic, self-directed lives.
Gregan on Winnipeg’s Inner City
Although the inner city is intimately involved with the public sector, this fact may inhibit the ability of its residents to lead dynamic, self-directed lives.
The Death Of Poverty
Dramatic human progress in health and living standards has been led by technological advances of modern medicine and vaccines, electricity and the microchip. The prime driver of these advances has been economic freedom which has encouraged, supported, and rewarded innovation.
A Conversation with David Beito
They were tremendously important. If you wanted to find where the center of community was in an urban neighbourhood or a small town you would often go to the lodge.
Welfare Before Government Welfare
It makes sense for people to make provision for their welfare, and they did it through mutual-aid societies.
UN Finds Low Poverty In Canada
Anti-poverty groups received a jolt early in October, when they woke up to this headline: “Only 6% of Canadians are poor, UN finds.”
Understanding Living Standards
Feeling the blues as you scan the bills from the Christmas blowout? Cheer up. It turns out that you’re probably a lot better off than you think.
Christmas Pudding
Could the world of tinsel and merriment that now surrounds us be merely a sham? If you believe the latest alarums from the poverty industry, trumpeted uncritically by the media, it cloaks a stark reality for the armies of Canada’s poor.