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The article focuses on the effects of mobile money and cellular telephones on poor people in developing countries. The article reports that mobile phones have a direct impact on economic growth in poor countries and that mobile-money services such as M-PESA can be used on mobile phones. The article suggests that mobile money is a safer and faster way to transfer money in Africa and Asia.

The article questions why poor democracies are not better at ending poverty. India, unlike China, is a vibrant democracy with a proudly robust habit of turfing lousy governments out of office. Yet, in poverty reduction, at least, China's unelected leaders have done better. A book by Bimal Jalan, a leading Indian economist and former governor of the central bank, lists some of the woes afflicting Indian politics, such as the rise of small parties, the dwindling of inner-party democracy and the shrinking role of Parliament in ensuring accountability. In poverty-reduction, as in growth, India is typical of other developing-country democracies, having achieved steady but not spectacular success. The relationship between caste and class helps explain the wide regional discrepancies in India.

Reports that the world's financial leaders have gathered in Madrid, Spain for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to debate about the world's poor continues. Mandate of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty in poor countries; Intention of the IMF to help countries out of financial difficulties; Study conducted by Elliot Berg, an American development economist, which suggests that life for the world's poor may not have deteriorated during the 1980s; Study on Latin America conducted by Oxfam, a British charity, which suggests that after a decade of structural adjustment, and despite economic growth, more people than ever are living in poverty.