e/acc

Ethereum

China accounted for 75% of the global reduction in poverty, by lifting 800M people from below the poverty line in the last 40 years. We can’t point to China as a shining beacon of capitalism… it was primarily due to productivity gains in the agricultural sector, which raised the income per unit of labor; 1/3

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation and climate science, host of /diving /ethfinance /forteantimes /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

public infrastructure investments that improved living conditions and connected rural areas to economic opportunities; and, a social policy of pensions and social assistance transfers. So, not exactly the most capitalistic agenda. 2/3

Source: https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/978-1-4648-1877-6 3/3

Agricultural productivity gains helped quite a bit, because with them, fewer farm hands were needed & were able to (or forced to) move to cities to find jobs.

Agri productivity has been quasi stagnant for the vast majority of the time since farming was invented, but the last century has seen tremendous improvements

cities have existed for centuries, what facilitated their relatively recent rapid expansion?

And for those who still doubt: poverty is understood to be largely a rural phenomenon.

Yet we went from 37% of the global population living in cities in 1960 to 57% (and from 16% to 64% in China).

So if you’re looking for a bite-sized answer, “urbanization” is as good as any, and probably better than most.