Causes of poverty and poverty alleviation strategies in Ghana

The Granger causality analysis and scatter plot findings offer insights into factors influencing poverty and potential ways to alleviate it in Ghana, with a focus on the Human Development Index (LNHHDI). Education stands out as the strongest predictor of future human development, suggesting that improvements in education can significantly contribute to poverty reduction. Enhancing access to quality education will lead to better employment opportunities, higher income levels, and improved health outcomes, which are critical for reducing poverty. Other factors, such as cooking fuel and technology and economic growth, also demonstrate moderate predictive power for human development. This indicates that increasing access to cleaner cooking technologies and fostering economic growth can help reduce poverty by improving living conditions, health, and public services. Conversely, factors like consumption expenditure, domestic consumption, electricity, inflation, and unemployment do not show significant predictive relationships with LNHHDI, suggesting that their impact on poverty may be more complex or indirect. The scatter plot analysis further reinforces these findings, showing strong positive correlations between LNHHDI and variables such as education, economic growth, capital formation, and energy use. These relationships suggest that investing in human capital, promoting economic growth, and enhancing infrastructure are effective strategies for alleviating poverty. Meanwhile, the weaker correlations with inflation and unemployment imply that addressing these factors may require more targeted policy interventions. Overall, the results emphasize the importance of improving education, stimulating economic growth, and developing infrastructure as key strategies for alleviating poverty in Ghana, while other factors may require more nuanced approaches to effectively impact development and reduce poverty. Keywords: Poverty, human development index, poverty alleviation