Book launch: ‘The Last Mile in Ending Extreme Poverty’

The past quarter-century has witnessed a stunning reduction in the number of people around the world living on less than $1.25 a day, the marker for extreme poverty. This has led to a new sense of hope that extreme poverty can end within a generation. Yet optimism is tempered by the unique circumstances facing those who remain left behind and new challenges that weaken traditional paths to prosperity.

In the new Brookings book, “The Last Mile in Ending Extreme Poverty,” editors Laurence Chandy, Hiroshi Kato, and Homi Kharas explore what it will take to finish the course. They identify three critical challenges that define the last mile: securing peace, creating jobs, and strengthening resilience. By uncovering evidence and approaches to address these issues, while pointing out the knowledge gaps that remain, “The Last Mile” outlines an agenda to inform future development research and poverty reduction strategies.

On July 23, the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) co-hosted a discussion on “The Last Mile.”