Um ensaio sobre os aspectos teóricos e metodológicos da economia da pobreza

The poverty, in welfare economics, is understood as a situation of privation of goods. In one hand, poverty can be understood in way entirely related with the income privation. This approach has the advantage to allow an easy mensuration, for the definition of poverty lines that indicate the minimum level of income so that the individuals can satisfy its basic necessities. However, the definition of these necessities always involves some degree of subjectivity, beyond that they can vary substantially between different societies. Thus, more recently a multidimensional boarding was developed to deal with the poverty. In this vision, welfare is associated with the acquisition of capacities, which mention a multidimensionality of related factors to well-being, so that the individuals reach its necessities. However, its mensuration involves the definition of complex indicators, over which there is no consensus in the literature. The present essay aims to identify the contributions, advantages and limitations of each one of these theoretical and methodological sources.