10. The Introduction to Poverty in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The goal of this chapter is to discuss various relevant definitions of poverty, how the Fourth Industrial Revolution has affected those definitions, and who the poor are today. All the definitions of poverty adopted by the various schools of economic thinking over time represent a paradigm shift from monetary factors to causes of poverty to multidimensional issues like political involvement and social exclusion. The magnitude of this transition can therefore be determined by having a description of these definitions of poverty, especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Establishing the extent to which the Fourth Industrial Revolution has affected these definitions will be a major emphasis of the current chapter. We shall be able to determine whether poverty criteria will remain the same or change in the Fourth Industrial Revolution in this chapter. A summary of the poor in the 4IR is also included in this chapter.