While economic growth has lifted many people out of poverty, some regions can now be singled out as places where large numbers remain below the extreme poverty line.

If services are getting bigger as a share of GDPs and jobs, productivity increases in the former are fundamental for income growth and development.

Whether it is in the U.S. presidential election campaign or as a result of the debt crisis in Europe, people on both sides of the Atlantic are debating the role of the state. Do we need more government or less of it?

There are limits to how much a government can receive as grants from donors or borrow. So raising tax revenues is a necessary element for governments to spend on providing more of these essential services and, in turn, reduce poverty.

With only five years to go until the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the poverty reduction agenda has been set back. All is not lost, however. Reducing poverty on a massive scale is doable.

Is there a real business in helping the world's poor? According to the World Resources Institute and the International Finance Corporation, there is.

Sub-Saharan Africa possesses some of the highest concentrations of natural resources. Yet, for all the mining and extraction, relatively precious few of the benefits trickle down to its citizens.