Counting the Poor
New Thinking About European Poverty Measures and Lessons for the United States
Published on 5. July 2012
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-19-986058-6 (ISBN)
Description
The poverty rate is one of the most visible ways in which nations measure the economic well-being of their low-income citizens. To gauge whether a person is poor, European states often focus on a person's relative position in the income distribution to measure poverty while the United States looks at a fixed-income threshold that represents a lower relative standing in the overall distribution to gauge. In Europe, low income is perceived as only one aspect of being socially excluded, so that examining other relative dimensions of family and individual welfare is important. This broad emphasis on relative measures of well-being that extend into non-pecuniary aspects of people's lives does not always imply that more people would ultimately be counted as poor. This is particularly true if one must be considered poor in multiple dimensions to be considered poor, in sharp contrast to the American emphasis on income as the sole dimension.
With contributions from the world's foremost authorities on income and social measurement, the book provides detailed discussions of specific issues from a European perspective followed by commentary from American observers. The volume considers (1) current standards of poverty measurement in the European Union and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, (2) challenges in extending those measures to account for the value of the provision of in-kind and cash benefits from the government, (3) the interaction of poverty measures with social assistance, (4) non-income but monetary measures of poverty, and (5) multi-dimensional measures of poverty. The result is a definitive reference for poverty researchers and policymakers seeking to disengage politics from measurement.
With contributions from the world's foremost authorities on income and social measurement, the book provides detailed discussions of specific issues from a European perspective followed by commentary from American observers. The volume considers (1) current standards of poverty measurement in the European Union and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, (2) challenges in extending those measures to account for the value of the provision of in-kind and cash benefits from the government, (3) the interaction of poverty measures with social assistance, (4) non-income but monetary measures of poverty, and (5) multi-dimensional measures of poverty. The result is a definitive reference for poverty researchers and policymakers seeking to disengage politics from measurement.
Reviews / Votes
"Volumes like this highlight the important role that cross-national or comparative research can play in illuminating common problems around the globe. In this case, important European research on income and poverty issues help inform the U.S. debate and serve as models for future research and analysis in all countries."-Sandra O. Archibald, Dean and Professor, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington"Calculating poverty rates is both technically challenging and politically explosive. With the poverty rate serving as a proxy for inequality and even social justice, counting the poor is a controversial task. But by drawing on how European countries and the United States tackle the challenge, and reviewing the range of methodologies, this excellent volume of papers provides invaluable lessons and insights that could help us at last to agree on how to think
about the measurement of poverty."-Stuart M. Butler, Director, Center for Policy Innovation, The Heritage Foundation
"Perhaps surprisingly, considering the firm commitment of so many modern governments to social policy and poverty reduction, poverty measurement itself remains very much a work in progress-replete with many deep, nettlesome and unsettled technical issues. This welcome collection brings together some of the latest thinking on the topic by a number of the best researchers in the field on both sides of the Atlantic and, in fact, around the world. Counting the
Poor will be required reading for anyone who wants to be up to date on this subject."-Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute
"Seen as a collection of interrelated themes, I find this book a worthy read for several reasons. First, within each theme, the chapters and the overall conclusion provide a nice overview of current academic and policy thinking in general and for Europe in particular. Second, the concluding chapter of the theme continues adding insights because it critically reviews the arguments seen through a US lens. Thirdly and more subtly, the book reveals differences in
American and European perspectives on issues such as solidarity (federal vs. national), distributing benefits from economic growth (less vs. more equal), the use of
official poverty lines..., and the definition of poverty (low income vs. social exclusion). As politics and policy are never far removed from poverty measurement, it is this characteristic of the book that makes it a relevant read, not only for a US audience but also for a European audience." -- International Journal of Social Welfare
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
54 line-cuts
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
834 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-986058-6 (9780199860586)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Douglas J. Besharov, PhD, is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.
Kenneth A. Couch, PhD, is Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut.
Kenneth A. Couch, PhD, is Professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut.
Content
1. Introduction ; Douglas J. Besharov and Kenneth A. Couch ; Part I. European Measures of Income, Poverty, and Inequality ; 2. The OECD Approach to Measuring Income Distribution and Poverty ; Michael F. Forster and Marco Mira d'Ercole ; 3. Income Indicators for the EU's Social Inclusion Strategy ; Isabelle Maquet and David Stanton ; 4. Deconstructing European Poverty Measures ; Richard V. Burkhauser ; Part II. Broadening Measures of Income and Other Financial Resources ; 5. Accounting for the Distributional Effects of Non-cash Public Benefits ; Holly Sutherland and Panos Tsakloglou ; 6. Accounting for Imputed and Capital Income Flows ; Joachim R. Frick and Markus M. Grabka ; 7. Accounting for Employee Benefits ; Neil Gilbert ; 8. Impressionistic Realism: A European Focus on U.S. Poverty Measurement ; David S. Johnson ; Part III. Income Levels for Social Assistance and their Behavioral Effects ; 9. Minimum-Income Benefits in OECD Countries ; Herwig Immervoll ; 10. Social Assistance Schemes in Developing Countries ; Margaret Grosh, Carlo del Ninno, and Emil Tesliuc ; 11. Europe's Other Poverty Measures: Absolute Thresholds Underlying Social Assistance ; Richard Bavier ; Part IV. Non-Income Monetary Measures ; 12. Asset-Based Measurement of Poverty ; Andrea Brandolini, Silvia Magri, and Timothy M. Smeeding ; 13. Consumption-Based Measures in Developing Nations: Lessons from Brazil ; Peter Lanjouw ; 14. Alternatives to Income-Based Measures of Poverty ; Kenneth A. Couch ; Part V. Multi-Dimensional Measures ; 15. Developing and Learning from EU Measures of Social Inclusion ; Eric Marlier, Bea Cantillon, Brian Nolan, Karel Van den Bosch, and Tim Van Rie ; 16. Using Non-Monetary Deprivation Indicators to Analyze European Poverty and Social Exclusion ; Brian Nolan and Christopher T. Whelan ; 17. Poverty Redefined as Low Consumption and Low Wealth, Not Just Low Income: Psychological Consequences in Australia and Germany ; Bruce Headey, Peter Krause, and Gert G. Wagner ; 18. Anomalies in European Measures of Poverty and Social Exclusion ; Neil Gilbert ; Part VI. Conclusion ; 19. New Comparative Measures of Income, Material Deprivation, and Well-Being ; Timothy M. Smeeding