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Bottom Incomes and the Measurement of Poverty: A Brief Assessment of the Literature

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  • Ceriani, Lidia
  • Hlasny, Vladimir
  • Verme, Paolo

Abstract

The paper discusses the main issues related to negative and zero incomes that are relevant for the measurement of poverty. It shows the prevalence of non-positive incomes in high- and middle-income countries, provides an analysis of the sources and structure of these incomes, outlines the various approaches proposed by scholars and statistical agencies to treat non-positive incomes, and explains how non-positive incomes and alternative correction methods impact the measurement of standard poverty indexes. It is argued that negative and zero incomes cannot be treated equally in terms of household well-being and that standard methods used by practitioners fail to recognize this fact likely resulting in overestimations of poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Ceriani, Lidia & Hlasny, Vladimir & Verme, Paolo, 2021. "Bottom Incomes and the Measurement of Poverty: A Brief Assessment of the Literature," GLO Discussion Paper Series 914, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:914
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Brunori, Paolo & Salas-Rojo, Pedro & Verme, Paolo, 2022. "Estimating Inequality with Missing Incomes," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1138, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Welfare measurement; Well-being; Poverty targeting; High- and middle-income countries; Survey non-response; Negative incomes; Zero incomes; Extreme income corrections;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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