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The devil in the details: The core disadvantage of the International Poverty Line

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  • Moatsos, Michail

Abstract

Our appreciation of global poverty almost exclusively relies on the official statistics published by the World Bank. Yet, these official global poverty estimates, based on the standard dollar-a-day approach, fall short in their prime objective of observing a constant standard of living across countries and over time. This paper discusses in brief the core methodological problem of the method, that is the idea that a single poverty line can be used for all country and all years consistently.

Suggested Citation

  • Moatsos, Michail, 2020. "The devil in the details: The core disadvantage of the International Poverty Line," EconStor Preprints 218971, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:218971
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Shaohua Chen & Andrew Dabalen & Yuri Dikhanov & Nada Hamadeh & Dean Jolliffe & Ambar Narayan & Espen Beer Prydz & Ana Revenga & Prem Sangraula & Umar Serajuddin & Nobuo Yosh, 2016. "A global count of the extreme poor in 2012: data issues, methodology and initial results," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(2), pages 141-172, June.
    2. Anand, Sudhir & Segal, Paul & Stiglitz, Joseph E. (ed.), 2010. "Debates on the Measurement of Global Poverty," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199558049.
    3. Shaohua Chien & Martin Ravallion, 2001. "How did the world's poorest fare in the 1990s?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(3), pages 283-300, September.
    4. Shaohua Chen & Martin Ravallion, 2010. "The Developing World is Poorer than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1577-1625.
    5. Robert C. Allen, 2017. "Absolute Poverty: When Necessity Displaces Desire," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3690-3721, December.
    6. Moatsos Michail, 2016. "Global Absolute Poverty: Behind the Veil of Dollars," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-28, December.
    7. Gordon Anderson & Maria Pittau & Roberto Zelli, 2014. "Poverty status probability: a new approach to measuring poverty and the progress of the poor," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(4), pages 469-488, December.
    8. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav & van de Walle, Dominique & Chan, Elaine, 1991. "Quantifying the magnitude and severity of absolute poverty in the developing world in the mid-1980s," Policy Research Working Paper Series 587, The World Bank.
    9. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 1997. "What Can New Survey Data Tell Us about Recent Changes in Distribution and Poverty?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 357-382, May.
    10. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_price_indexes_inequality_and_the_measurement_of_world_poverty_aer. is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Moatsos Michail, 2018. "The Unbearable Errorlessness of Global Poverty Estimates," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    12. Angus Deaton, 2010. "Price Indexes, Inequality, and the Measurement of World Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 5-34, March.
    13. repec:pri:rpdevs:presidential%20address%2017january%202010%20all.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Martin Ravallion & Gaurav Datt & Dominique van de Walle, 1991. "Quantifying Absolute Poverty In The Developing World," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 37(4), pages 345-361, December.
    15. Robert Allen, 2013. "Poverty Lines in History, Theory, and Current International Practice," Economics Series Working Papers 685, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. repec:bla:revinw:v:37:y:1991:i:4:p:345-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Robert C. Allen, 2017. "Absolute Poverty: When Necessity Displaces Desire REVISED," Working Papers 20170005, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jun 2017.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Global Poverty; Absolute Poverty; Poverty Measurement; Dollar-A-Day; International Poverty Line; WBPL;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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