Poverty Rates in New Mexico - Research Paper Example

? Poverty Rates in New Mexico Poverty has been an issue of concern across the globe. Intriguing is the fact that poverty rates have been persistently increasing with time. This has been despite the efforts that societies have relentlessly been putting forward to curb the poverty. In some situation, the trends in poverty have taken the concerned groups back to in order to understand factors that account situation. Some have argued that poverty and societies may be inseparable. On the other hand, the liberals have attributed poverty to various factors, especially crime. Thus, according to them, a solution to crime rates should begin with addressing poverty issues. To lend an opinion to the subject, as far as the New Mexico is concerned, there is a clear relationship between poverty, crime rates, and other societal social misfits. To begin with, New Mexico is faced by two major problems. This includes crime and poverty. In 1998 statistics showed that close to 20.4 percent of the natives were living below the poverty index. As such children were pointed out as the most affected group in the society. The study further revealed that in every more than one in every four children was living way below the poverty line citing the problems of malnutrition, hunger , poor education, pressure on public utilities as well as the inefficiency of the justice system as key causes. At that, time figures released by the government pointed out that the Country was ranked among the most violent nations. This was attributed to the fact that, over 961 crimes were recorded in every 100 000 residents. In 2000, analysis in the country’s educations system pointed out that it was an issue of major concern since then debate has been raging over the enactment of the proposed legislations that would have foreseen parents cater for their children in private institutions. However the opponents of such legislations have always been at locker heads with the proponents. Indeed, they hold a different view concerning an overhaul in the education system. As such, they believe that public institutions should be given a priority as opposed to directing students in other private institutions. Such disagreements led to greater deterioration of the education system. it should be noted that New Mexico has been ranked number one in aspect of poverty and crime. In addition, the its ranking as the poorest in education system proved to be a major challenge for the country. Basing on the data from the United States Census Bureau American Community Survey; New Mexico is rated as the second-worst poverty stricken county in the nation (Gaurav and Ravallion, 1992). According to the 2011 data, the percentage of families that live below poverty line within the Land of Enchantment is 16.60%, with specific rates of individual that leave below poverty levels sitting at 21.50%. These data shows that Mississippi has the worst rates in the two categories that is 17.4 percent and 22.6 percent respectively. Alaska and New Hampshire are noted to be the best terms of poverty rates in the United States. In this regard, the rates for the whole county in the year 2011 were 11.7% for families and 15.9% for all persons. There are a number of ways poverty can be measured (Gaurav, and Ravallion, 1992). The two most commonly indicators lead to similar results, New Hampshire having the best and Mississippi with the worst. In this case, the first indicator shows the percentage of families living below the poverty level as stipulated by the federal poverty level. More often than not the threshold tends to fluctuate depending on the number of individuals living in a given threshold. In the context of the New Mexico, it poverty rates is slightly better than another state called Louisiana, and somewhat worse than Kentucky. However, considering that the levels of poverty in the New Mexico are relatively high, this is not as such a good thing. There exist only one county, in which the rate of poverty approaches a critical value, which is at least above 50 percent of the average state. This is the county of McKinley, whose poverty index is way above 27.4 percent. However, the distinctive feature making this county to be unique is that most of its inhabitants are Native American citizens, most of who belong to Navajo Tribe. In New Mexico, there are no main cities having critical rates of poverty. Social overpopulation has been cited a factor in prevalence of poverty. The national population census conducted in 2000 revealed that the numbers had hit a 97million mark up from about 25 million in 1950s. Thus, it is evident that New Mexico has been crippled with the rising population. This has led to a high population density and henceforth a strain on the limited available resources. It should also be noted that, majority of the Mexicans engage in manual low productivity farming. This practice contributes greatly negatively to the nation’s overall economic power. It has also been observed that overpopulation in New Mexico is as a result of high birth rates. As such the Mexican cultural norms have to a large extend contributed to wide spread poverty levels. Families often value children and they are seen as a source of labor. Considering the inability of the government systems to provide financial support to families, it has become a problem in controlling g birth rates due to the absence of regulatory measures. In addition the absence of skilled manpower has negatively economic progress in Mexico. This has been attributed to poor education system as well as training of the people. As such, the Mexicans failed to consider the potential benefits of a proper environmental system. With most of the land misused, through forests clearing among other activities has led to food shortages. Following that, shortage of food and water only worked towards elevating poverty among the society. By and large, demographic shifts serve as major contributors to the increasing poverty levels. Change in the demographic structure has led to the increase in poverty levels among the children. For instance the change in the family structure has led to increased cases of single parent families that often tend to be poorer. Studies have also pointed out that the beliefs held by the New Mexicans significantly contributed to the poverty levels. As such some Mexicans believed that poverty was a common system of the societal structure and as such some people were to remain poor for a balance to exist. In that context the society took little measures to curb the growing trend since they viewed it as a normalcy. However, others felt that the rise in poverty was due to institutional failure such as schools and labor markets. Furthermore, social stratification has contributed greatly to the prevalence of poverty in New Mexico. As such, Mexico has an unequal resource distribution. Studies carried out in 1998 pointed out close to 20 percent of the top income earners contributed to 55 percent of the country’s income while about 27 percent of the total populations were living well below the poverty index. By and large, the occupation of New Mexico by different races of people has also contributed to the rising poverty levels. As such the wealthiest members of the society are comprised mainly of the whites while the natives are marginalized.  In the economic aspects, New Mexico experience high rates of unemployment. It is commonly known that idle mind is a workshop of evil, thus increase levels of unemployed within the society increases crime rates since people will be looking for survival means. Studies have also pointed out that New Mexico is entangled in excessive corruption. The government is run by a few rich in the society whereas the weak are overlooked. Thus, it reduces service delivery as well as balance of resources to the whole societal needs. Additionally, social prejudice an inequality has been cited as a factor inthe prevalence of poverty levels in New Mexico. In this regard, some people are overlooked on the basis of their social class and ethnic affiliations, religion as well as, their racial groupings. Research has established that the government often favored some specific group of people and thus left other to languish in poverty. For instance, instead of the channeling resources to help out on the poor in the society the government redirected resources to the rich and other affiliates of the government. As a people that are stricken by poverty, the people of Mexican have limited options of life. In this regard, they are vulnerable to health complications, lack of satisfactory education and risky behaviors such as crimes. Becker (1968) explains that there is a relationship between poverty and crimes. According to him, poor people have the high tendency to commit crimes, especially if the costs underlying the benefits outweigh the costs. Secondly there are high rates of mental illnesses in the poor populations than rich populations. These high levels of crimes may trigger stress among the people, making them commit crimes (Blake, 2006). Thirdly, poverty results to increased school drop-out rates. In the later stages, the unsatisfactory education levels decrease employment chances, making the population resort to crimes as a survival alternative. In this case, crimes suffice ways in which poor people could earn livelihood, which they cannot achieve it by legitimate means. Additionally, poverty touches on population distributions. It is indispensable that poor populations live in more densely populated can be demonstrated in the Mexican case than rich populations. Additionally, most densely populated areas are found to comprise of single parent families and a large percentage of youths. These factors aggravate criminal activities (Jencks, 1992). Indeed, various studies have found that there is a positive correlation between the densely populated neighborhoods and crime rates. Furthermore, a study conducted by Ludwig and Hirschfield revealed that teenagers living in poverty-stricken areas have high chances of committing crimes that those living in less poor areas (Blake, 2006). However, Ludwig and Hirschfield (2000) suggest that poverty-stricken areas exhibit violent crimes and low property-related crimes compared to the youths living in less poverty stricken areas. Although these may seem contradictory, they explain that teenagers living in low-poverty areas are subject to heightened scrutiny compared to those in highly poor areas. As if not enough, this is attributable to the fact that most victims of crime in poverty-stricken areas would seldom report of victimization. The groups in the opposition attribution of crimes to poverty have often argued that statistics of crime rates in poverty stricken areas, regions and countries do not reveal significant, positive correlation between crime and poverty. However, what should be noted is that the reference statistics could be subject to discrepancies such as those associated with low reporting rates. As can be observed in the Mexican case, the Native Americans are more often than not, meant to feel that they are pushed to the side, or forgotten by the government of the United States. Notably, serious negative stigmatization often associated with this kind of reservation seems to make it somewhat harder for the residents. It is reported that the rates of suicide are quite high and such issues do not concern the politicians. Hardly is such issue of fighting poverty in the New Mexico a campaign platform. Whenever an area is associated with stigma, it is bound to become less attractive for business expansion, since health care professionals, teachers, who might develop interest in working in such areas become discouraged. In the eventuality, such areas experience a high unemployment rates, lack of jobs, low quality-health services, as well as low-quality education. This reinforces a negative stigma often attached to it. Lack of private and public investments in such like areas, poor attention to the demands of the reserves, lack of communication with the existing tribal governments, would cause these areas to experience increased poverty levels. However, it is worth contenting that the key reason that makes the poverty rates unique is the role played by individuals that occupy such areas. Means of reducing poverty In an effort to fight against the ever increasing poverty levels in the New Mexico, various stakeholders have been on the forefront in employing strategies geared towards reducing poverty levels. Charitable and outreach organizations have been working out means to help keep poverty levels down across America. However, it is worth contenting that despite these efforts, levels of poverty have not reduced significantly. Therefore, there are other measures that can be employed in helping reduce poverty levels in Mexico. As research would indicate, applying microeconomics policy can be one of the most successful means of tackling poverty levels in New Mexico. As widely cited, economic growth is one of the key factors that influence poverty. Basing on statistical studies, there are strong correlation between national poverty indicators and the national per capita income, when both non-income and income measures of controlling poverty are used. Recent studies have shown that on average, in 80 countries, the bottom-fifth of the world population incomes rises one for one with an overall growth of an economy defined by GDP per capita income (Deaton and C. Paxson, 2000). This study also found out that the overall growth on the poor’s income was not different in poor nations as relate to the rich Nations. It highlighted that relationship of poverty-growth did not change for a period of years. It indicated that policy-induced growth was appropriate for the poor considering the fact that it takes place for the benefit of the entire population. In yet another study, 143 growth episodes were used, in which it was found that growth effect tend to dominate with distribution effect being vital in few of the cases (Chu, & Sanjeev,1998). However, these studies failed to establish causation but rather established only the association. In a case where causality goes the other way, poverty reduction could be achieved by implementing stable macroeconomics policies that can help achieve a somewhat higher growth. New Mexico can, as well deal with the problem of poverty by encouraging private investments for purposes of creating jobs for its citizens. Various studies have shown that through capital accumulation by various private sectors, it is possible to drive the growth of the economy. This clearly implies that one key objective for a country that strives to reduce poverty levels should be to come up with conditions facilitating investments within the private sector. Notably, there can never be a magic bullet to guarantee increase in the rate of investments in the private sector. Therefore, instead, other than maintaining stable and sustainable microeconomics policies, New Mexico poverty reduction policy agenda need be in a way that it extends across various policy areas to include trade liberalization, privatization, financial and banking sector reforms, regulatory environments, labor markets, as well as the judicial systems. Through such an agenda, increased more efficient public investments can be achieved in areas such as health, education alongside other related priority social service sectors. Stability of microeconomics can also be a strategy that can help the New Mexico to tackle the problem of poverty. As widely cited, microeconomic stability is the pivot point for a successful effort to help increase development in the private sector, as well as for the good of economic growth. Cross-country regression by using a somewhat larger sample of countries seem to suggest that investment, productivity, and growth are all positively correlated with the stability in macroeconomics (Deaton and Paxson, 2000). As much as it proves challenging to prove direction causal, results tend to confirm that instability in the macroeconomics is often associated with poor performance growth. This implies that without there being macroeconomics stability, foreign, as well as domestic investors would keep away and because of this, resources would be diverted to other areas. Evidently, behavior of the econometric evidence show that other than the convectional factors for instance, real interest, past growth in the economic activities and credit in the private investments, is significantly, as well as negatively affected by economic instability and uncertainty (Deininger, 1999). Therefore, in order to safeguard stability in microeconomics, the government budget, which include strategies employed by the government to reduce on poverty levels should be well financed in a non-inflationary and sustainable manner. Through integrating and formulating macroeconomics policy of the country, poverty reduction strategies can easily be implemented. In this respect, poverty reduction strategies should first be well articulated, be financed and coasted within an overall budget in a manner that is noninflationary. The finances, most of which would be on a concessional terms, might not be as such fixed while in the process; in case clear poverty reduction strategies are not financed from the available resources, the World Bank, as well as the IMF staff should assist the country in an effort to increase the additional financial support for donation. However, in cases where financial gaps do not change, the country needs to revisit its intermediate objectives of re-examining its strategies and priorities. Except for cases where imbalances in the macroeconomics become severe, there should be a scope for flexibility in which short-term macroeconomics goals are set. However, there should never be compromising of the objectives of the macroeconomics. Additionally, using various national outreach and charitable organizations, there should be team work in helping spearhead the reduction in the levels of poverty across America. By and large, New Mexico should employ various urban planning policies and techniques, which focuses on the blog. Another way through which poverty can be reduced is by maintaining good communication between the state levels and tribal governments. For instance, the department of New Mexico Indian Affair, which was created by the Governor Bill Richardson, is one such good step in a right direction. All said and done, it is essential to put into consideration the fact that reasons for increased poverty levels are quite unique as those persons living through it. Although finding certain trends in the specific area is vital, there is no generalization can be the most appropriate in accounting for very one. This and other upcoming strategies can make it easy for the Native American reservations to get recognized by the federal government, as well as the New Mexico state government. This would suffice as unique ways of dealing with poverty in the New Mexico. References Becker, G. (1968). Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach. Journal of Political Economy 169-217. Blake, T. (2006). Poverty and Crime. Retrieved on 21st April, 2013 from http://economics.fundamentalfinance.com/povertycrime.php Chu, Ke-young, and Sanjeev Gupta, eds., (1998) “Farm Productivity and Rural Poverty in New Mexico,” Journals of Developments Studies, Vol. 34 (April), pp. 62–85. Deaton, A., and C. Paxson, (2000). “Growth and Savingsw of  Individuals and Households,” Review of Economy and Statistics, Vol. 82 (May), pp. 212–25. Deininger, K, (1999). “Asset Distribution, Inequality, and Growth,” Development Research Group (Washington: World Bank. Gaurav, D, and Ravallion, M. (1992). “Growth and Redistribution parameeters of Change in Poverty Measures: A Decomposition an applilications to Brazil and India in the 1980s,” Journals of Developments Economics, Vol. 38 (April), pp. 275–95. Jencks, C. (1992). Rethinking Social Policys: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press. Print. Ludwig, J. & Hirschfield, P. (2000). Urban Poverty and Juvenile Crime: Evidence From a Randomized Housing-Mobility Experiment. Retrieved on 10th April, 2012, from http://www.jcpr.org/wpfiles/duncan.ludwig.revise4-25. Read More