This book brings together cross-country evidence to challenge a thinking that has led to the separation of the poverty discourse into distinct strands across the developed north and the developing south.More specifically, it explores the evidence on the contention that the human emotion of shame is at the core of poverty and that it is of consequence for designing policies to address poverty. The original reference to this proposition can be found in the writing of Adam Smith and Amartaya Sen have cogently highlighted it in recent times. The book is an outcome of a larger study ‘Shame, social exclusion and the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes: a study in seven countries’ supported by UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Department of International Development.