Has economics cured poverty?

I have just began readings Sylvia Nazar's "Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius" - the book that has been recently on many bestseller lists. What struck me from the very beginning is the emphasis from the very beginning that the development of the economics (meaning the economic theory) in the last two centuries has lifted the mankind from the poverty.

I have met this thesis previously and it seems to me rather controversial - after all, according to the World Bank most of the mankind still live in poverty (the poverty threshold is currently set at $1.25 a day, which is very different from what is considered "poverty" in the Western countries.) Ironically, most of the reviews of the book fail to notice this obvious problems, obviously assuming that it is of no interest to the rich Western audience. Indeed, even New York Times criticizes Ms. Nazar not for neglecting the rest of the World, but for being insufficiently attentive to the kinds of problems that have been experienced in the West - particularly the Great Depression and the recent economic crises.


Whether the economics can cure the poverty or whether it merely succeeds in providing high standard of living to "the more fortunate among us" (using the President's Obama language) remains to be seen.