ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses four questions: (1) What are the historical trends in global poverty? (2) What are alternative ways of measuring historical trends in global poverty? (3) What explains historical trends in global poverty? (4) What are likely future trends in global poverty? The answers to these questions indicate that, although history provides guidance on poverty reduction, there is still much more work to do in order to eradicate extreme poverty on a global scale. Whether there is the political will to do it is unknown.
