Title: 1. Poverty: Elements of Historical Definition
11.Poverty Elements of Historical Definition
2Oxford English Dictionary The condition or
quality of being poor. The condition of
having little or no wealth or material
possessions indigence, destitution, want (in
various degrees) Deficiency, lack, scantiness,
dearth, scarcity smallness of amount. Want of
or deficiency in some property, quality, or
ingredient the condition of being poorly
supplied with something (of soil, etc.) the
condition of yielding little, unproductiveness.
Poor condition of body leanness or feebleness
resulting from insufficient nourishment, or the
like. III. 8. attrib. and Comb., as
poverty programme U.S., a programme or policy
designed to alleviate poverty poverty trap, a
situation in which an earned increase to a low
income is offset by the consequent loss of
means-tested state benefits
3 The OED indicates that in the English
language, concepts of poverty from the 14th
century onward stress the idea of lack, absence,
deficiency, and ALSO more specific framing of
poverty as market income poverty gt
having little or no wealth.
4Creating a measure for market income poverty
- Benjamin Rowntree formalized a market-based
measurement definition in the early 1900s, when
he established the concept of poverty line. - Poverty Line gt the income level beneath which
a person cannot buy goods and services that
constitute a socially acceptable minimum standard
of living.
5Poverty lines can be set at any level appropriate
for the purpose at hand.
- Higher lines designate higher minimum living
standards lower lines, lower minimum standards. - The Millennium Development Goal line of
US1/day at 1985 US prices put about 1.3 billion
people in poverty in 1990.
6The CONCEPT of a poverty line depicting
a global minimum standard for a socially
acceptable minimum standard of living for the
whole world came into existence only after 1945.
This GLOBAL conceptualization of POVERTY as an
object of measurement EVERYWHERE is a feature of
WORLD ORDER in the later 20th century.
7Concept gt Measure gt Policy
- The original CONCEPT of poverty guiding
MEASUREMENT and POLICY was nationality. - The modern problem of poverty, hence the idea of
a poverty line, appeared FIRST inside
territories of national state authority, - where NATIONAL norms prevailed, NATIONAL
governments made policy, and NATIONAL elites and
institutions debated policy options.
8(No Transcript)
9Conceptualizing Poverty, Nationally
- In England, the IRISH famine and mounting URBAN
poverty became prominent features of public life,
in the 1840s, when the first modern studies of
poverty appeared, one influential study by
Fredrick Engels, Karl Marxs close associate. - Modern ideas about socialism appeared at this
time, to express the demand that the STATE
protect the poor from poverty induced by early
industrial capitalism (in England). - The Irish famine followed by INDIAN famines in
1870s brought to light massive VULNERABILITY to
catastrophe among poor people living under the
authority of the BRITISH EMPIRE - From the 1870s, PROTECTING AGAINST FAMINE became
official government policy in much of Europe and
also in British India.
10Increasing Inequality Made Poverty a Pressing
Problem
- As economic growth accelerated under industrial
capitalism, in the nineteenth century, states
took more interest in the poverty problem. - Growing inequality generated demands to address
poverty, in England and also in British India.
11Nationalism and Socialism
- Nationalism in British India and Socialism in
Europe both made strong claims that states had
the responsibility to protect the poor from
calamity. - These claims became political challenges to
states based on support for English national
business interests promoting laissez faire market
policies.
12Revolution and Depression
- The Russian Revolution (1917) provided a real
socialist option and model for national movements
in Asia, including British India. - The Great Depression (1929-1934) forced states to
take responsibility for protecting whole national
populations against severe market fluctuations.
13Poverty Line and Cold War
- The mid-20th century made concepts of poverty
more political - First by introducing TWO conflicting meanings
for the POVERTY LINE, one associated with
capitalism, the other, with socialism. - Second by giving INEQUALITY (measured around the
poverty line) two meanings, with the same
conflicting associations.
14Poverty Lines Entitlement in Socialism and
Welfare States
- Under socialism and in welfare states, the
poverty line marked an income level below which
people became entitled to STATE provisioning of
goods and services that people could not buy. - The assumption here is that the state is at the
very least the provider of LAST RESORT of
necessary goods and services for citizens.
15Market Entitlement
- By contrast, the market economy by itself
provides no such last resort entitlement - Amartya Sen defines entitlements of three kinds
(Poverty and Famines) - 1. Self-Production (as on peasant farm)
- 2. Personal Property (legal ownership)
- 3. Exchange (purchase for money)
16Shifting Paradigms
- After 1970, the socialist and welfare definitions
of poverty entitlement became less politically
popular in many states. - This trend accelerated with the dismantling of
many socialist regimes and state policies. - The NATIONAL STATE became less active as
guarantor of ENTITLEMENTS for the poor.
17Meanings of Inequality
- INEQUALITY (measured around the poverty line) had
also acquired two meanings, with the same
conflicting associations. - In market-based capitalism, it retained its
meaning as UNEQUAL WEALTH among disparate
individuals. - Under socialism, it acquired the meaning of
UNEQUAL POWER over the distribution of goods and
services among social classes.
18UNEQUAL WEALTH among individuals became more
broadly defined over time. Kanbur et al,
Laderchi et al
- Poverty
- income insufficiency (market buying power)
- lack of access (to goods and services in general
provisioning, not just market, e.g. courts,
welfare programs, family, community) - lack of assets (ownership, social capital, to use
to acquire necessities, or to produce, e.g. land,
animals, credit) - lack of capacity to do things (abilities),
- lack of entitlement (rights to resources),
- Hence insecurity, vulnerability (lack of
protection, safety), lack of prospects or
opportunities (e.g. education), hence poverty
outcomes (symptoms) gtlack of health, food,
shelter, hunger, disease, early death, misery, etc
19Implications of viewing poverty as UNEQUAL WEALTH
among disparate individuals
- The fact that non-poor people have what poor
people do not have is irrelevant to poverty. - Income inequality is just a ranking of
attributions, from greater to lesser, from wealth
to poverty. - Targeting poverty can mean provisioning,
providing, or endowing the poor with means to
ends (i.e. money or jobs to buy food) or with
ends directly (e.g. food, housing, shelter, etc).
20By contrastThe UNEQUAL POWER concept of
INEQUALITYmakes poverty an outcome of
inequality.
- This approach considers lack or insufficiency
of wealth (by any definition) the outcome of
denial - it applies the active verb meaning of
deprivation, - indicating that things people need are taken
away, deprived, - BECAUSE poor people do not have the power to
sustain themselves. - A lack of empowerment, in this view, is not just
a lack, but a loss, as in disempowerment or
oppression (an active reduction of prospects and
freedom of action).
21So when we see poverty as UNEQUAL POWER among
social classes.
- The fact that non-poor people have what poor
people do not have is very relevant to poverty. - Wealth inequality represents the production of
poverty by the systematic use of power to provide
wealth to some groups and not others. - Targeting poverty can mean removing obstacles to
their empowerment, including a reduction of the
power of the non-poor poor to accumulate wealth.
22Concept ltgt Measure ltgt Policy
- The DEFINITION of poverty is thus a complex,
changing process. - In which concepts and measures derive from policy
orientations, - which are in turn formed within a changing world
environment, - where people in state, regions, and localities
engage poverty as a problem today.
232.Poverty in Global Frames
24From International to Global Poverty
- Conflicting meanings of POVERTY LINE,
ENTITLEMENT, and INEQUALITY became part of
international policy dispute and conflict after
1945, - When for the first time, THE WHOLE WORLD of
Poverty became an object of policy attention.
25From International to Global Poverty
- Poverty remains fundamentally national
- Concepts, Measures, and Policies differ from
state to state. - Statistics remain state products.
- State politics still determine state policies.
- But the international system has become more and
more powerful as a context for state activities.
26From International to Global Poverty
- A World Development Regime came into being after
1945 - The World Bank, IMF, United Nations agencies,
GATT/WTO, and major donor countries set the
tone for development - These organizations actively shifted the POVERTY
paradigm away from that of welfare/ socialism
toward that of market/capitalism
27Universal Norms, Concepts
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the
first of many UN documents to formulate
standards, norms, and concepts for all member
states. - Member states eventually embraced almost all the
world population. - The Millennium Development Goals are now the most
GLOBALLY influential statements about POVERTY
28Poverty as a global problem
- Though policies focus on individual countries,
- each operates inside a global regime
- composed of states and inter-state organizations
that set the tone for the dominant operative
matrix of - CONCEPT gt MEASURE gt POLICY
29National Poverty, Global Inequality
- The following slides indicate
- PERCAPITA GDP for each national territory (total
product/total population) is the measure of
global inequality - people in poor countries are the global majority
- people in the richest countries, which set the
tone for global development, are a small minority - most of the worlds poor live in Asia.
- poverty correlates with life expectancy (among
other quality of life variables
30(No Transcript)
31(No Transcript)
32(No Transcript)
33(No Transcript)
34Wealth inequality is life inequality (Based on
1996 UNICEF data)
353.Measuring Poverty
- Institutions and practices
36(No Transcript)
37Spatial frames for approaching poverty
38Concept ltgt Measure ltgt Policy
- Policy orientations shape concepts and measures
- Concepts and measures influence from policy
orientations - Policy orientations take shape inside a changing
world environment, - where people in state, regions, and localities
engage poverty as a problem.
39A Matrix of Interactions in the Politics of
Knowledge About Poverty
- Policy orientations inform policy within
structured institutional settings - These settings tend toward self-justification,
- They structure research, interpretation,
explanation accordingly - Concepts, measures, and analysis rarely operate
free of institutional structures. - We all operate within structured conceptual
limitations that said, we can proceed
40From definition to measurement basic problems
(Laderchi)
- The space of poverty what is possible now
under current conditions or what is possible
under altered conditions. - Universality do definitions translate or move
across contexts. - Subjective versus Objective Values, Judgments,
and Agency - Setting Poverty Line Dividing Poor and Non-Poor
- Units of analysis e.g. person, family, area,
population - Multidimensionality how to evaluate elements
- Time month, year, lifetime, or longer
- Do measures explain?
41Four Approaches(Laderchi)
- MONETARY Measure (MM)
- CAPABILITY Approach (CA)
- SOCIAL EXCLUSION (SE)
- PARTICIPATORY METHOD (PM)
42Definitions and Practical Benefits
- Monetary Measure
- Poverty line cuts ranked income groups by level
at which money income insufficient to acquire
necessary goods and services
- Parsimony
- Statistics
- Objectivity
- Translatable
- Economic Theory
- Levels of Scale
43Definitions and Practical Benefits
- CAPABILITY
- Poverty line distinguishes people without
freedom to live a valued life, denied capacity
to realize human potential
- Multidimensional
- Substantive
- Adaptable
- Non-Utilitarian
- Ethical Theory Economics (HDI)
44Definitions and Practical Benefits
- SOCIAL EXCLUSION
- Poverty line separates groups marginalized and
deprived of basic social assets
- Relativity
- Agency
- Dynamics (process)
- Non-Individualistic
- Multi-dimensional
45Definitions and Practical Benefits
- PARTICIPATORY APPROACH
- Poverty line defined by people themselves
- Sensitive
- Contextual
- Voice
- Democracy
- Relativity
46Which measure is best?
- Money measure is ubiquitous
- Its practical benefits attract most support
- Its theoretical attachment to economic theory
implies explanatory and thus predictive power for
policy makers - But diversity of measures better captures
realities of poverty - and
47 large discrepancies in those defined as poor
according to different methods mean that one
cannot rely on the monetary indicators to
identify those in other types of poverty, nor
conversely.-- Laderchi et al.
48Poverty Elements and Orientations
- The diversity of definitions emerges from
entanglements among technical analysts,
institutions, and poverty issues. - Definitions of poverty do not emerge
independently of theories, ideologies,
statistical methods, and analytical procedure
that inform policy, but rather inside them.
49Specialist orientations and prior commitments
generate definitions, procedures, priorities
- Human Rights
- Education
- Environment
- Law
- Housing
- Sanitation
- Health Care
- Gender
- Nationalism
- Globalization
- Economics
- Anthropology
- Cultural Studies
- Etc etc
50World Bank, World Development Report, 2000/1,
Attacking Poverty. Introduction.
- Poverty is multidimensional it includes
inadequate food, shelter, health, education
vulnerability to disease, dislocation, disaster
and often mistreatment by state and society. - Poor people live without fundamental freedoms of
action and choice that the better-off take for
granted. (capabilities, rights?) - The experience of multiple deprivations is
intense and painful. The Voices of the Poor
study, which informs this report, gives a
first-hand glimpse of poverty. (participatory
approach) - Of the worlds 6 billion people, 2.8 billion
almost half live on less than 2 a day, and 1.2
billion a fifth live on less than 1 a day,
with 44 percent living in South Asia. (monetary
poverty) - In rich countries, less than 1 in 100 children
die before age 5 while in the poorest
countries, as many as 20 do. In rich countries,
lt5 children lt 5 yrs old are malnourished in
poor countries, as many as 50 ? ten times the
percentage. - (Inequality, comparison, as definition of poverty)
51Poverty Measurement and Analysis
Suresh Babu International Food
Policy Research Institute
52What is Poverty?
- Poverty is welfare level below a reasonable
minimum. - Poverty has various dimensions
- Income poverty
- Security poverty
- Education poverty
- Health Nutrition Poverty
- Multiple deprivation
- Poor peoples perception of poverty level
53What do we mean by Poverty?
- The primary focus is on individuals or groups
suffering from multiple deprivations
Education poor
Core Poor
Health Poor
Security Poor
Income Poor
54Poverty Lines and Poverty Measurement
- Two Issues in Generating Poverty Estimates
- Fixing a poverty line Identification
- Measuring poverty Aggregation
55Methods of Fixing Poverty Lines
- Cost-of-basic-needs method (Food-share method)
- Cost of basic food needs
- Cost of basic non-food needs
- Food-energy method
- Expenditure level that meets the food energy
requirement - Based on calorie-income relationships
- Fitting and tracing calorie-expenditure graph
56Cost-of-Basic-Needs Method
- Total Poverty Line Z
- ZZF ZN
- ZF Food Poverty Line
- ZNNon-food Poverty Line
57How to calculate the Food Poverty Line
- Calculate average household (HH) size
- Find minimum requirement of daily per-capita
calories for WHO - Find the typical food bundle of the relative poor
HH - Calculate the calories of this food bundle
- Determine the cost of this food bundle
- WHOs average minimum
- ZF calorie requirement
- calories in average food bundle for
- relatively poor HH
Cost of the average food bundle
58How to Calculate the Non-food Poverty Line
- Find typical Household (HH) on the food poverty
line. - Calculate the non-food expenditures of the HH.
- xF per capita expenditures on food
- XN per capita expenditure on non-food
- X total per capita expenditure
- ZN E XNxF ZF for the poor
- (Non-food poverty line is the per capita
non-food expenditure level when the per capita
food expenditure level is equal to the food
poverty line) - ZN E XNx ZF for the ultra (extreme)
poor - (The non-food poverty line is given by the
per capita non-food expenditure when the total
expenditure is equal to the food poverty line.
The food poverty line in essence becomes the
total poverty line for the ultra poor) -
- Z ZF ZN
59Minimum daily caloric requirements by sector and
gender
Urban
Rural
Age categories
Male
Female
Male
Female
0 to 1 year
820
820
820
820
gt1 to 2 years
1,150
1,150
1,150
1,150
gt2 to 3 years
1,350
1,350
1,350
1,350
gt3 to 5 years
1,550
1,550
1,550
1,550
gt5 to 7 years
1,850
1,750
1,850
1,750
gt7 to 10 years
2,100
1,800
2,100
1,800
gt10 to 12 years
2,200
1,950
2,200
1,950
gt12 to 14 years
2,400
2,100
2,400
2,100
gt14 to 16 years
2,600
2,150
2,600
2,150
gt16 to 18 years
2,850
2,150
2,850
2,150
gt18 to 30 years
3,150
2,500
3,500
2,750
gt30 to 60 years
3,050
2,450
3,400
2,750
gt60 years
2,600
2,200
2,850
2,450
Source
Caloric requirements are from WHO (1985, Tables
42 to 49).
Notes
Requirements used are for men weighing 70
kilograms and for women weighing 60 kilograms.
Urban
individuals are assumed to need 1.8 times the
basal metabolic rate (BMR), while rural
individuals are assumed
to need 2.0 times the average BMR. Children under
one year of age are assigned the average caloric
need of
children either 36, 69, or 912 months old.
60Poverty lines and spatial price indexes by region
Food poverty line
Reference poverty line
Ultra poverty line
Relative price index
Region
Metropolitan
50.18
129
.19
75.36
1.000
101
.72
Lower urban
45.94
67.52
0.787
Lower rural
44.29
85
.38
0.661
64.71
Upper urban
101.36
45.19
0.785
67.51
82.81
Upper rural
40.36
53.37
0.641
Notes
Poverty lines are monthly, per capita figures in
Egyptian pounds. The Metropolitan poverty line
is used as a
base line to create the relative price index,
which is simply the ratio of each region's
reference poverty line to
the base line.
61Issues in the Poverty Line
- Does a poverty line exists?
- Can it be used is it well accepted?
- Are international standards for setting poverty
lines accepted in all countries? - Can we use the same poverty line throughout a
country? - Can the nutritional basket underlying the poverty
line be derived from surveys?
62Measures of Poverty
- Incidence of Poverty poverty rate
- Use the headcount rate to calculate the poverty
rate of the of population below the poverty
line - Depth of Poverty how far a person is below the
poverty line - Poverty Gap aggregation of depth of poverty
- Poverty Severity aggregation with weights
63Head-count Index of Poverty
- Proportion of population whose consumption (y) is
less than the poverty line Z - Y1, Y2,..Z, ..Yn
-
q - H q/n
- H Head-count index
- q number of poor
- n size of the population
- Eg if n100 q50 then H0.5 or 50
- Problems
- Insensitive to the depth of poverty
- H will not change when a poor persons welfare
changes if he/she remains below the poverty line
64Example of the Head-count Index Calculation
- Income of 4 individuals in a sample 1,2,3,4
- Poverty Line Z 3.0
- H q/n 3/4 0.75 or 75
65Head-count of Absolute Poverty for Bangladesh
Year Sector BBS Graph Fitting Method Ahmed et al. (1991) Ravallion Sen (1994) Rahman Haque (1988) Hossain Sen (1992) Sen Islam (1993) Muqtada (1986)
1973/ 1974 Rural Urban 82.9 81.4 (5.6) - - 65.3 62.5 71.3 n.a. n.a. 63.2 55.9 37.8
1981/ 1982 Rural Urban 73.8 66.0 71.8 65.3 - 79.1 50.7 65.3 n.a n.a. 48.4 -
1983/ 1984 Rural Urban 57.0 66.0 n.a. n.a. 53.8 40.9 49.8 39.5 50.0 n.a. n.a. 42.6 -
1985/ 1986 Rural Urban 51.0 56.0 51.6 66.8 45.9 30.8 47.1 29.1 41.3 n.a. n.a. 30.6 -
1988/ 1989 Rural Urban 48.0 44.0 - 49.7 35.9 - 43.8 n.a. n.a. 33.4 -
1991/ 1992 Rural Urban 50.0 46.8 - 52.9 33.6 - - - -
66Poverty Gap Index (PGI)
- Aggregate short-fall of the poor relative to the
poverty line Z - Y1, Y2,, Yq Yq ? Z
- Poorest Least poor
- q
- PG 1/n S (Z-Yi)/Z mean proportionate
- i1 poverty gap across the
- whole
population (zero gap - for the
nonpoor) -
67Example of Poverty Gap Calculation
Income of4 individuals in a sample
1,2,3,4 Poverty line Z 3 n4 PG (3-1)/3
(3-2)/3/4 (2/3)
(1/3)/4
(3/3)/4 ¼ or
0.25 Poverty gap index does not capture
differences in severity of poverty.
68Why?
- Region A (1,2,3,4)
- Region B (2,2,2,4)
- Poverty line Z 3
- HA 0.75 HB 0.75
- PGA 0.25 PGB 0.25
-
- Poverty gap will be unaffected by an income
transfer from a poor person to another poor
person who remains below the poverty line
69Squared Poverty Gap Index (SPG)
- Mean of the squared proportionate poverty gap
- Reflects severity of poverty
- Sensitive to the distribution among the poor
- q
- SPG 1/n S (Z-Yi)/Z2
- i1
- Eg Region A (1,2,3,4) Region B (2,2,2,4)
with Z3 - SPGA 0.14 SPGB
0.08 - Poverty in region A gt Poverty in region B
-
70Poverty AnalysisIncome/Consumption Poverty
Profile
- Correlates poverty with
- Gender
- Age
- Residential location
- Ethnic characteristics
- Income source
- Employment sources
- Share of food/ non food consumption
- Education outcomes
- Malnutrition outcomes
71Qualitative Analysis of Poverty
- Role of informal sector?
- Social analysis of poverty?
- Institutional analysis of poverty reducing
institutions - Intra-household distribution of resources
72Use of Qualitative Methods
- Subjective meaning of poverty
- Intra-household dimensions of poverty
- Poor peoples priorities for action
- Social, political, and cultural factors, gender
roles, and traditional beliefs - Participants help in designing household surveys
- Assess the validity of HHS results at local level
73Income or Consumption?
- Consumption reflects income as well as past
savings, access to credit markets, and seasonal
variation in income - No records of income or seasonal fluctuations
- Large informal sectors
- Consumption data helps in deriving the poverty
line
74Measuring Income/ Consumption Poverty
- Household data availability tools
- Measurement of income poverty
- Quantitative analysis tools
- Qualitative analysis tools
- Income poverty dynamics tools
75Data Needs for Poverty Analysis
- National level data
- National accounts GDP, consumption, savings,
investment, imports, exports, etc. - Ministry of Finance, Central Statistical Agency
- Budgets, price surveys, and data collection
- Monthly, quarterly, and yearly
76Data Needs for Poverty Analysis cont.
- Local level data
- Consumer and producer prices, climatic data,
availability and use of markets and services - CSA, local service providers, regional
departments - Price and market surveys
- Monthly, yearly
77Data Needs for Poverty Analysis cont.
- Household Individual level data
- Household income, consumption, employment,
assets, production, demography, etc. - CSA, sectoral ministries, NGOs, academics
- Household survey, rapid assessments, monitoring
and evaluation - Yearly, 2-3 years, every 5 years
78Data Sources for Poverty Analysis
- Administrative data
- Population Census
- Household surveys LSMS, IE, Labor, DHS, RRA
- Qualitative and Participatory Assessments
ethnographic, village studies, beneficiary
assessments, etc.
79Types of Household Surveys
- Single-topic surveys
- Multi-topic surveys
- Census data
- Poverty monitoring surveys
- Times series data
- Panel data sets
80THE END
- continuations
- nutrition and poverty
- markets and poverty
81 HOW to TACKLE POVERTY GLOBALLY Before the 1970s,
the general assumption internationally was that
GOVERNMENTS were responsible to PROTECT people
against calamitous vulnerability, to provide
SAFETY and SUSTENANCE, which would not otherwise
be available.
Since then, the IDEA THAT ECONOMIC GROWTH based
primarily if not solely on asset allocations in
the MARKET could END POVERTY or even curtail it
massively has become increasingly popular.
82Changing Parameters of Policy gt Concept gt
Measure
- THE NATIONAL STATE has thus lost its formerly
presumed role as guarantor of basic welfare
entitlements for the poor. - A global POLICY orientation that promotes the
CONCEPT of market-driven ECONOMIC GROWTH has
generated new efforts to measure its impact on
wealth and inequality.
83Global Trends indicate growing productivity,
wealth, and inequality
- ratios of per capita income between rich and poor
countries increased more than six-fold between
1870 and 1985, as income levels dispersed over an
ever-widening range of variation and rich and
poor economies clustered on either end of a
broader spectrum. - Today, inequality is increasing. The gap between
the richest and poorest countries is growing.
The poorest of the poor are an ever-larger
proportion of the world population. - Absolute poverty increased in the 1990s most
dramatically in Africa, where an average
household now consumes 20 less than 25 years
ago. - From Divergence, Big Time, by Lant Pritchett (a
World Bank report)
84Markets and Poverty
- It appears that in general
- Market-based economic development DOES generate
increasing WEALTH - but also ALLOWS for (if it does not generate)
increasing inequality,
85Markets Are Pragmatic
- The following slide indicates that investors
would tend to avoid risky economic environments. - Many of which would also be poor.
- Left to itself, therefore, the market would not
define poverty as a problem.
86(No Transcript)
87As a result of investor logics non-market
mechanisms remain critically important for our
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT REGIME to target poverty as
a global problem in each individual country
where poverty is prevalent as measured by
global standards.