Another Mere Addition Paradox?: Some Reflections on Variable Population Poverty Measurement

Nicole Hassoun

No wp-2010-120, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Debates about poverty relief and foreign aid often hinge on claims about how many poor people there are in the world and what constitutes poverty. Good measures of poverty are essential for addressing the world poverty problem. Measures of poverty require a basis for determining who is poor and a method of aggregation. Historically, the methods of aggregation were quite simple. The headcount index (H), for instance, measures the number of poor people as a percentage of the total population.

Keywords: Equality and inequality; Poverty; Poverty measurement; Methodology (Poverty) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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