Do indexes assess poverty? Is tourism truly pro-poor?

Authors : Sagar Singh

Pages : 6-13

View : 15 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2022-07-01

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The basic premise of tourism economics that money, however used, can alleviate poverty is flawed, since monetary systems are not 100 per cent efficient, and the Law of Entropy explains declining efficiency, hence declining profits for all, but more so for the poor who have no investment capability. However, a yardstick for assessing tourism’s economic benefits is still required. An index reflecting the state of the poor in developing as well as developed countries is suggested, that, used with measures of education of tourism practitioners and the poor, can help plan tourism. The index is not a ‘universal tool’, though it can be used for quick assessments of the poor in post-COVID social systems, to help stave off increase in poverty due to perishable rural goods that tourism can consume. The paper explains the frequent failure of tourism to alleviate poverty through descriptive explanation and simple econometrics of Marx’s ‘rule of falling rate of profit’, which explanation has not been suitably addressed in modern economics.
Keywords : poverty, money, index, sustainable, Marx, profit, econometrics