Poverty Persistence

Chapter 11 suggests two new illustrative devices for poverty income dynamics. To examine pro-poor mobility in the form of relative income growth, it suggests that TIM curves can be applied to individuals in poverty. In addition to highlighting the incidence, intensity and inequality of mobility for alternative poverty definitions, this allows the relative mobility of each poverty group to be compared with mobility by the population as a whole. To examine poverty persistence, the chapter suggests that a poverty persistence curve can identify both the extent of movement across a poverty threshold and the particular poor and non-poor incomes for which persistence or movement is prevalent. The concepts are illustrated using New Zealand income data for individual income taxpayers.