The poverty line measure used by the World Bank has many unsatisfactory features, according to a discussion paper from an Oxford economist.
The paper compares historical poverty baskets with modern food security and poverty lines, arguing that the latter could be improved by emulating the historical methods.
Do views in Scotland on the necessities differ from those in the rest of the UK? Is reasonable to have a single poverty standard for the whole of the UK or should Scotland have a separate standard. In this this research analysis working paper, Maria Gannon and Nick Bailey examine the PSE UK findings.
At their annual conference in September, the Royal Statistical Society organised a session on the government’s consultation on child poverty. With the next announcement on consultation now expected before Christmas, Paul Allin and John Veit-Wilson summarise the presentations and discussion.
Progress in reducing or preventing poverty in the UK could be helped by the answers to 100 important research questions, according to a new report. The questions have been identified by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, based on an exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research. They cover a range of themes, and indicate areas of particular research interest.
An alternative 13-item indicator produces a more accurate measurement of material deprivation in the European Union than the existing one, according to a paper by researchers from the Centre for Social Policy at Antwerp University.
The paper considers the new indicator's potential impact on the size of the population deemed to be deprived, the socio-demographic characteristics of this population and the Europe 2020 social inclusion target.
Trends in China are the dominant factor in global inequality trends since the late 1980s, according to a study by academics at the Center for Global Development in Washington (USA). The paper proposes an alternative approach to measuring global inequality based on consumption patterns, which suggests that progress in reducing inequality has been slower than sometimes portrayed.
The redistributive effect of tax and benefit systems depends heavily on the way in which income is defined, says a new working paper from the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
The paper examines how the distribution of income in three European countries (the UK, Belgium and Greece) changes when the standard definition of disposable income is replaced by a wider definition. The latter takes into account three 'I's – indirect taxes, imputed rent on owner-occupied housing, and in-kind benefits.