Immigration, Superstars and

Poverty in America
(M.E. Assignment)
Prepared by: Group-4

Group: 4
Chirag Thakkar (13)
Devansh Saxena (15)
Riddish Chauhan (34)
Rishu Sharma (35)
Shahin Selkar (40)
Souvik Biswas (43)
Aashish Gupta (LAW) (01)
 Q-1. Why do most modern societies try to reduce poverty? Why don’t
they do so by simply passing a law that requires that everybody
have the same income?

Ans-1: Most of the modern societies try to reduce poverty because of the following reasons:

 To improve the standard of living, so that everyone can live a comfortable life; also more and
more people can live above the poverty line
 To reduce poverty furthermore; employment needs to be generated which shall result in
decrease of Crime rate
 It helps in the overall economic growth of the nation.

They cannot do so by simply passing a law that requires that everybody have the same income as
income of a person varies from profession to profession. An Individual’s job depends upon his
respective skill set, qualifications, and capabilities etc. in the market.

Q-2. How do the “rules of the game” help determine who will be poor
and who will not? (Hint: how did the civil rights act of 1964,
which forbade discrimination on the basis of race, likely affect the
incomes of African Americans compared to the incomes of white
Americans?) Explain your answer.

Ans-2: Not Applicable (as not yet done in class/ course).

Q-3. Which of the following possible in-kind transfers do you think

raises the true income of recipients the most: free golf lessons,
free transportation on public buses or free food? Why?

Ans-3: “Free Food” as a form of in-kind transfers raises the true income of recipient the most. Some
potential reasons to support the argument are:

 As food is one of the most important constituent of the basic necessities, providing free food will
result in reduction in potential costs incurred by individuals on consumption of food. Ultimately,
resulting in increased disposal income which can be either used for more consumption or savings
 Free food can also help in improving the standard of living.

2
  Free food can be useful in up-liftment of poor population
 It can also work as a great tool to enhance our production levels of food items as the producers
can produce in large quantum which will be purchased by the Government at predetermined
rates.

Q-4. Consider three alternative ways of helping poor people get better
housing: government-subsidized housing that costs $3000 per
year, a housing voucher worth $3000 per year toward rent on an
apartment or house, or $3000 per year in cash. Which would you
prefer if you were poor? On what grounds might you make your
decision?

Ans-4: “A Housing voucher worth $3000 per year towards rent on an apartment or house” as a form of
helping poor people get better housing, some key aspects which can be attributed to the answer can be:

 Providing food vouchers is a Direct benefit scheme as the Government can benefit the public in a
specific context (here being better housing).
 Funds wouldn’t be utilized for purpose other than those intended as in order to get the rent refund
people would be required to show the rent receipts, thereby enabling efficient utilization of
government resources.
 Only those people who should be benefitted will be benefitted, thereby reducing the instance of
social evils like corruption.
 A system of internal check would be created as benefit would be passed on showcasing the rent
receipts only. To avoid any malpractices government can also centralized the procedure by
automation and online portals route for issuing rent receipts, thereby no unauthorized persons
would be benefitted
 E.g.: As discussed in class, the case of Direct benefit transfer for LPG cylinders to the poor is
one of the best examples wherein direct benefit transfer seems to have succeeded immensely.

The assignment work is done nicely. Your group is getting four out of five(4/5) marks.