For example, Raghuram G. Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has blamed the ever-widening gulf between the rich and the poor, especially in the US, to be one of the main fault lines which caused the financial institutions to pump money into subprime mortgages—on political behest, as a palliative and not a remedy, for poverty—causing the financial crisis of 2007–2009. In Rajans view the main cause of the increasing gap between high income and low income earners was lack of equal access to higher education for the latter.A data based scientific empirical research, which studied the impact of dynastic politics on the level of poverty of the provinces, found a positive correlation between dynastic politics and poverty; i.e. the higher proportion of dynastic politicians in power in a province leads to higher poverty rate. There is significant evidence that these political dynasties use their political dominance over their respective regions to enrich themselves, using methods such as graft or outright bribery of legislators.Many scholars and public intellectuals argue that, throughout most of human history, extreme poverty was the norm for roughly 90% of the population, with only the emergence of industrial capitalism in the 19th century lifting masses of people out of it. This narrative is advanced by, among others, Martin Ravallion, Nicholas Kristof, and Steven Pinker.
In the UK the NHS estimates that around 9% of men and 4% of UK women show signs of alcohol dependence. History
The term alcohol dependence has replaced alcoholism as a term in order that individuals do not internalize the idea of cure and disease, but can approach alcohol as a chemical they may depend upon to cope with outside pressures. The contemporary definition of alcohol dependence is still based upon early research. There has been considerable scientific effort over the past several decades to identify and understand the core features of alcohol dependence. This work began in 1976, when the British psychiatrist Griffith Edwards and his American colleague Milton M. Gross  collaborated to produce a formulation of what had previously been understood as alcoholism – the alcohol dependence syndrome. The alcohol dependence syndrome was seen as a cluster of seven elements that concur. It was argued that not all elements may be present in every case, but the picture is sufficiently regular and coherent to permit clinical recognition. The syndrome was also considered to exist in degrees of severity rather than as a categorical absolute. Thus, the proper question is not whether a person is dependent on alcohol, but how far along the path of dependence has a person progressed. See also
Alcohol intoxication
Alcoholic drink
Alcohol-related dementia
CRAFFT Screening Test
Disulfiram-like drug
High-functioning alcoholic
Long-term effects of alcohol consumption
Paddington alcohol test

Notes
External links

Arnold Little, MD Alcohol Dependence – extensive article
SADD – Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire. A brief, self-administered questionnaire sometimes utilised in individual or group treatments.