全球贫困问题

Does not allow us to measure the total number of poor people in the world Or even in any given country Human Poverty Index (HPI) solved only some of these problems… … hence the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
Chris Holden Globalisation and Social Policy


‘…there is no single concept of poverty that stands outside history and culture. It is a construction of specific societies.’ (Ruth Lister, Poverty, 2004) Concepts Definitions Measures
Poverty is multi-dimensional


A simple threshold producing a global figure Allows us to see how poverty has changed over time World Bank uses a range of poverty lines And we can measure the ‘poverty gap’ (the mean shortfall from the line)


General ‘the framework within which definitions and measurements are developed’ The meanings of poverty, e.g. ‘lack of basic security’



Should provide a more precise statement of what distinguishes the state of being poor from that of not being poor Absolute, e.g. where someone does not have ‘enough to eat and live without getting into debt’ Relative, e.g. where someone has ‘enough to buy the things they really need, but not enough to buy the things most people take for granted’
Expected years of schooling (years) 17.3 16.1 14.9 13.8 11.6 13.1 6.9 8.9 8.9 8.2
1 28 50 79 101 123 145 156 171 187
Norway U.K. Romania Jamaica China S. Africa Pakistan Nigeria Malawi Congo, Democratic Republic of the



‘ways of operationalizing definitions so that we can identify and count those defined as poor and gauge the depth of their poverty’ Income measures Living standards, e.g. whether someone can afford two meals a day EU/UK relative measure = 60% of median income

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Income or consumption measures? Data collected via periodic household surveys

ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ


Poverty conceptualised as ‘pronounced deprivation in wellbeing’ (World Bank, 2000) Defined as ‘the inability to attain a minimal standard of living’ (World Bank, 1990). Measured by setting a poverty line based on the expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other necessities.


Methodology for calculating ‘extreme poverty’ threshold has changed at various points Current measures = $1.25 a day, calculated as the mean of the national poverty lines for the poorest 15 countries
HDI Rank
Country
Human Development Index (HDI) Value 0.943 0.863 0.781 0.727 0.687 0.619 0.504 0.459 0.400 0.286
Life expectancy at birth (years)
Mean years of schooling (years)
HDI Rank
Country
Human Development Index (HDI) Value 0.943 0.863 0.781 0.727 0.687 0.619 0.504 0.459 0.400 0.286
Life expectancy at birth (years)
Mean years of schooling (years)
81.1 80.2 74.0 73.1 73.5 52.8 65.4 51.9 54.2 48.4
12.6 9.3 10.4 9.6 7.5 8.5 4.9 5.0 4.2 3.5
Gross national income (GNI) per capita (constant 2005 PPP$) 47,557 33,296 11,046 6,487 7,476 9,469 2,550 2,069 753 280




Whether we define poverty as absolute or relative… Should we construct national measures and then compare poverty rates between countries? By such means, we could count the number of poor people in the world using a common, but nationally applied, measure.




Monetary measures overlook importance of health and other services Sen’s ‘capability’ concept provides an alternative approach Focuses on the process of enlarging people’s choices to do and be the things they value Poverty is a lack of real opportunity to do or be those things

A minimal and arbitrary measure Supports Bank’s preference for targeting the poorest



Poverty thresholds tell us nothing about the duration of spells of poverty The crisp distinction tells us nothing about how many are just over the line… …or the depth of poverty of those under it


‘Less than $1 a day’ An ‘extreme poverty’ line, calculated from the official national poverty lines of a sample of low and middle income countries Initial analysis (1990) of 33 countries found that 8 had poverty lines at about $31 a month (i.e. $1 a day)

‘…there is no single concept of poverty that stands outside history and culture. It is a construction of specific societies.’ (Ruth Lister, Poverty, 2004) Is our society global or national? Should we define poverty as relative? To what?
81.1 80.2 74.0 73.1 73.5 52.8 65.4 51.9 54.2 48.4
12.6 9.3 10.4 9.6 7.5 8.5 4.9 5.0 4.2 3.5
Gross national income (GNI) per capita (constant 2005 PPP$) 47,557 33,296 11,046 6,487 7,476 9,469 2,550 2,069 753 280
Expected years of schooling (years) 17.3 16.1 14.9 13.8 11.6 13.1 6.9 8.9 8.9 8.2
1 28 50 79 101 123 145 156 171 187
Norway U.K. Romania Jamaica China S. Africa Pakistan Nigeria Malawi Congo, Democratic Republic of the
$ per day
% below each line
Numbers of poor (millions below each line) 876.0 1376.7 1751.7 2561.7 3084.7
1.00 1.25 1.45 2.00 2.50
16.1 25.2 32.1 47.0 56.6

Sets deprivation thresholds across the same three dimensions as the HDI and the HPI:

Classifies countries as ‘low’, ‘middle’ or ‘high’ income, based on gross national income (GNI) per capita ‘Low’ income = $1,045 or less ‘Lower middle’ income = $1,045 - £4,125 ‘Upper middle’ income = $4,125-$12,746 ‘High’ income = $12,746 or more