More Wealth, Less Poverty: Do What Works

It may be politically incorrect to point this out, but the decline in poverty rates since 1990 has been accompanied by a rise in globalization, lesser capital controls, a liberalized financial sector, and lower tax rates on higher incomes. Incidental? Unlikely. Meantime, the historical record on doing the exact opposite on those fronts doesn't offer an encouraging profile as the basis for a poverty-eradication policy.