Why Assist People Living in Poverty?

The paper provides an examination of the relevance of ethics to poverty reduction. Ethics examines the nature and scope of institutions as the deepest level of analysis. The ethics of poverty is understood as the principles and processes of justification employed to justify assisting people in poverty. The paper argues that ethical perspectives are relevant to understanding poverty and the priority given to poverty reduction in society. It further argues that ethical perspectives inform the design and scope of anti-poverty programmes. Drawing on the recent expansion of social assistance in Brazil, South Africa and Ghana, the paper shows that ethical perspectives are relevant to our understanding of the evolution of anti-poverty policy.