Weakly Relative Poverty

Prevailing measures of relative poverty put an implausibly high weight on relative deprivation, such that measured poverty does not fall when all incomes grow at the same rate. This stems from the (implicit) assumption in past measures that very poor people incur a negligible cost of social inclusion. That assumption is inconsistent with evidence on the social roles of certain private expenditures in poor settings and with data on national poverty lines. The authors propose a new schedule of "weakly relative" lines that relax this assumption and estimate the implied poverty measures for 116 developing countries. The authors find that there is more relative poverty than past estimates have suggested. In 2005, one half of the population of the developing world lived in relative poverty, half of whom were absolutely poor. The total number of relatively poor rose over 1981-2005, despite falling numbers of absolutely poor. With sustained economic growth, the incidence of relative poverty becomes less responsive to further growth. Slower progress against relative poverty can thus be seen as the "other side of the coin" to success against absolute poverty.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Chen, Shaohua, Ravallion, Martin
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	2009-02-01
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY, AGGREGATE INCOME, AGGREGATE POVERTY, AVERAGE INCOME, BULLETIN, CALORIES PER DAY, CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA, COUNTRY LEVEL, CULTURAL CHANGE, DATA QUALITY, DECOMPOSABLE POVERTY, DECOMPOSABLE POVERTY MEASURES, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING WORLD, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, DIET, DISCRIMINATION, DISTRIBUTION DATA, ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES, ECONOMIC CHANGE, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, ECONOMIC LITERATURE, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, ECONOMICS, EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE, FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY, FOOD BASKET, FOOD CONSUMPTION, FOOD STAPLES, GLOBAL LEVEL, GLOBAL MARKETS, GLOBAL POVERTY, GROWTH PROCESS, GROWTH RATE, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT, INCIDENCE OF POVERTY, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME ELASTICITY, INCOME INEQUALITY, INCOME LEVELS, INCOME POVERTY, INCOMES INCREASE, INEQUALITY, INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES, INTERNATIONAL POLICY, INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE, LEVELS OF CONSUMPTION, LIVING STANDARDS, LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES, LOW-INCOME COUNTRY, MEAN INCOME, MEAN INCOMES, MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY, MEASURING POVERTY, NATIONAL ACCOUNTS, NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS, NATIONAL POVERTY, NATIONAL POVERTY LINE, NATIONAL POVERTY LINES, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES, NEWSLETTER, NUMBER OF PEOPLE, NUTRITIONAL NEEDS, PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION, PHYSICAL NEEDS, POLICY ANALYSIS, POLICY RESEARCH, POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER, POOR, POOR COUNTRIES, POOR PEOPLE, POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION GROWTH, POVERTY ASSESSMENTS, POVERTY COMPARISONS, POVERTY DYNAMICS, POVERTY GAP, POVERTY GAP INDEX, POVERTY INCIDENCE, POVERTY INCREASES, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY MEASURE, POVERTY MEASUREMENT, POVERTY MEASURES, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPERS, PROGRESS, PURCHASING POWER, PURCHASING POWER PARITY, RATES OF GROWTH, RELATIVE INCOME, RELATIVE INCOMES, RELATIVE INEQUALITY, RELATIVE POSITION, RESPECT, RURAL, RURAL POVERTY, RURAL POVERTY LINES, SOCIAL AFFAIRS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, SOCIAL POLICY, SOCIAL SCIENCE, SOCIAL SECURITY, STANDARD DEVIATION, SUBSISTENCE, URBAN BIAS, URBAN POVERTY, URBANIZATION,
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090622100104 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4168
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