That slowly began to change with the advent of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. For most of human history, we lived in a world of a few haves and lots of have-nots. If we look over the longer historical period, we can see that the trends today are just the continuation of capitalism’s victories in beating back poverty. The biggest gains in the fight against poverty have occurred in countries that have opened up their markets, such as China and India. The number of people worldwide living on less than about two dollars per day today is less than half of what it was in 1990. This claim is true whether we are looking at a time span of decades or of centuries. Nothing has done more to lift humanity out of poverty than the market economy. The biggest gains in the fight against poverty have occurred in countries that have opened up their markets. But like so many other criticisms of capitalism, this one ignores the very real, and very available, facts of history. This refrain is certainly common in the halls of left-leaning academia as well as in broader intellectual circles.

Critics frequently accuse markets and capitalism of making life worse for the poor.

Capitalism ii guide to success