The retreat in global poverty is because of, not in spite of capitalism

Do those who despise markets, really, in effect, just want people to be poorer? (Cato)

As Deaton notes that “the rapid growth of average incomes, particularly in China and India, and particularly after 1975, did much to reduce extreme poverty in the world. In China most of all, but also in India, the escape of hundreds of millions from traditional and long-established poverty qualifies as the greatest escape of all.”

The importance of growth cannot be overstated. There is not a single example of a country emerging from widespread poverty without sustained economic growth.

As University of Oxford Professor Paul Collier writes in his book “The Bottom Billion,” “Growth is not a cure-all, but lack of growth is a kill-all.”

Even people who were traditionally skeptical of the free markets increasingly recognize that private enterprise is the key to prosperity.