Debates on the Measurement of Global Poverty

The international community's commitment to halve global poverty by 2015 has been enshrined in the first Millennium Development Goal. How global poverty is measured is a critical element in assessing progress towards this goal, and different researchers have presented widely-varying estimates. The chapters in this volume address a range of problems in the measurement and estimation of global poverty, from a variety of viewpoints. Topics covered include the controversies surrounding the definition of a global poverty line; the use of purchasing power parity exchange rates to map the poverty line across countries; and the quality, and appropriate use, of data from national accounts and household surveys. Both official and independent estimates of global poverty have proved to be controversial, and this volume presents and analyses the lively debate that has ensued.

ISBN 0199558043   Pages 464 ISBN13 9780199558049 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 683 Publisher Oxford University Press   Published in Oxford Imprint Oxford University Press   Series title Initiative for Policy Dialogue Format Paperback   Height (mm) 233 Publication date 04 Mar 2010   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 339.46   Spine width (mm) 25 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Professional / Scholarly, Tertiary education

Debates in the Measurement of Global Poverty: Introduction; PART I; 1. The Debate on Globalization, Poverty and Inequality: Why Measurement Matters; 2. How not to count the poor; 3. Raising the Standard: the War on Global Poverty; 4. Irrelevance of the $1 a Day Poverty Line; 5. Use of Country Purchasing Power Parities for International Comparisons of Poverty Levels: Potential and Limitations; 6. Measuring poverty in a growing world (or measuring growth in a poor world); 7. Poverty or income distribution: Which do we want to measure?; 8. A note on the (mis)use of national accounts for estimation of household final consumption expenditures for poverty measures; 9. Unequal development in the 1990s: Focusing on gaps in human capabilities; 10. Improving Measurement of Latin American Inequality and Poverty with an Eye to Equitable Growth Policy; PART II; 11. The Changing Nature of Urban Poverty in China; 12. China is poorer than we thought; 13. Poverty Decline in India in the 1990s : A Reality And Not An Artefact; 14. Living Standards in Africa

"While there are many publications on alleviating global poverty, this compliation of papers focuses on the fundamental issue of what constitutes poverty and how it is measured. This is an important concern since one fo the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is halving world poverty by the year 2015. Whether or not this goal has been or will be reached depends fundamentally on the definition of poverty, which in turn influences the measurement of poverty itself.... This volume addresses an important, challenging issue and will be of value to students and researchers of development economics and world poverty."--CHOICE

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