poverty trap
1
6.1
- noun
- /ˈpɑːvərti træp/
- Specialized
:
trampa de la pobreza
- Many families find it hard to escape the poverty trap due to rising living costs.
Examples
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Perhaps the most pressing need of these people is for knowledge to spring them from that poverty trap and allow them to join the peoples in East Asia and other regions who are gaining decent lives.
Blog text (17) -
With these policies, Sachs contends, the poor will be able to overcome the poverty trap and get a foothold on the "ladder of economic development." (n34)
Academic text (2008) -
Education is a way out of the poverty trap.
Blog text (4) -
A city stuck in a poverty trap faces the same challenges.
Blog text (16) -
Two to two and a half billion people are not so badly off as the poorest, but still are caught in a poverty trap.
Blog text (17) -
The key problem, he observes, is that certain countries and peoples, especially in Africa, are excluded from adequate participation in international markets due to "poverty traps" such as lack of capital, unfortunate physical geography, and widespread disease.
Academic text (2008) -
The poverty trap often makes it difficult for those at the bottom of the income scale to improve their situation.
-
Government assistance programs can unintentionally create a poverty trap that discourages people from working more hours.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a situation that keeps people stuck in poverty' is directly and predictably formed from 'poverty' (lack of resources) + 'trap' (something that ensnares). This noun–noun compounding and the metaphorical use of 'trap' to indicate being unable to escape is cross-linguistically common and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Poverty trap comes from the simple image of a hidden trap that catches people in poverty: when someone earns a little more they can lose benefits or face new costs and stay 'stuck' instead of getting ahead. That's why poverty trap means a situation where it is very hard to escape poverty.