The Two Poverty Enlightenments Historical Insights from Digitized Books Spanning Three Centuries by Martin Ravallion

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5549

Word searches of Google’s library of digitized

books suggest that there have been two “Poverty

Enlightenments” since 1700, one near the end of

the 18th century and the second near the end of the

20th. The historical literature suggests that only the

second came with a widespread belief that poverty

could and should be eliminated. After the first Poverty

Enlightenment, references to “poverty” (as a percentage

of all words) were on a trend decline until 1960, after

which there was a striking resurgence of interest, which

came with rising attention to economics and more

frequent references to both general and specific policies

relevant to poverty. Developing countries also became

more prominent in the literature. Both Enlightenments

came with greater attention to human rights. The

written record reflects the push-back against government

intervention and the retreat from leftist economics and

politics since the late 1970s. Although many debates

from 200 years ago continue today, there is little sign that

the modern revival of the classical 19th century views on

the limitations of government has come with a revival of

the complacency about poverty that was common early in

that century.

This paper is a product of the Director’s Office, Development Research Group. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org. The author may be contacted at mravallion@worldbank.org.