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Person Equivalent Headcount Measures of Poverty

In: Inequality and Growth: Patterns and Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Tony Castleman

    (George Washington University)

  • James E. Foster

    (George Washington University)

  • Stephen C. Smith

    (George Washington University)

Abstract

The most common tools for monitoring poverty are headcount measures, which evaluate a country’s poverty level using the number or prevalence of poor persons in the country. Yet as emphasized by Sen (1976), headcount measures have serious limitations stemming from their inability to differentiate among the poor.1 Large changes in incomes of the poor are ignored when the incomes stay below the poverty line, while small changes near the line can disproportionately affect measured poverty. Alternative poverty measures have been developed that address this problem by accounting for the intensity of poverty; but these measures are typically absent from policy discussions as they can be viewed as challenging for policymakers to explain intuitively, or for the public to understand.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony Castleman & James E. Foster & Stephen C. Smith, 2016. "Person Equivalent Headcount Measures of Poverty," International Economic Association Series, in: Kaushik Basu & Joseph E. Stiglitz (ed.), Inequality and Growth: Patterns and Policy, chapter 3, pages 101-130, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:intecp:978-1-137-55454-3_3
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137554543_3
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    2. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    3. James Foster & Suman Seth & Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2013. "A Unified Approach to Measuring Poverty and Inequality--Theory and Practice : Streamlined Analysis with ADePT Software," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13731, December.
    4. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-427, June.
    5. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    6. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James & Seth, Suman & Santos, Maria Emma & Roche, Jose Manuel & Ballon, Paola, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199689491.
    7. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    8. World Bank & International Monetary Fund, 2010. "Global Monitoring Report 2010 : The MDGs after the Crisis," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2444, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty Line; Poverty Measure; Multidimensional Poverty; South Asia; Multidimensional Poverty Index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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