There has been considerable controversy and debate over recent years about the most
appropriate method of measuring poverty. This debate has included, among other issues,
the questions of absolute versus relative poverty, the merits of money income as a
measure of the standard of living and the associated selection of poverty lines and
equivalence scales, and the selection of alternative indices of poverty. A review of the
literature indicates that the choice of differing approaches to poverty measurement can
lead to differing estimates of poverty. In the face of such results an evaluation of the
impact upon poverty estimates of alternative measurement methodology is appropriate.
This thesis assesses the impact upon the estimated level of poverty of variations in some
of the key poverty measurement parameters. The expenditure data derived from the
1975-76, 1984 and 1993-94 Household Expenditure Surveys have been analysed to
assess the sensitivity of poverty estimates, derived from a range of poverty indices, to
variations in the generosity of the equivalence scales, the level of the poverty line, and
the choice of the indicator of the level of resources used. The sensitivity of each poverty
index to variations in these parameters is assessed at both the aggregated level and for
the specified household types, while those population subgroups particularly susceptible
to poverty are also identified. The poverty distributions derived for each of the survey
years are compared to evaluate the impact upon changes in the level of poverty over
time of variations in the underlying parameters.
The thesis concludes that both poverty estimates at a point in time, and poverty trends
over time are sensitive to variations in the equivalence scales, in the level of the poverty
line, in the selection of the indicator of the level of resources, and in the choice of
poverty index itself. In light of these results, a review of recent Australian poverty
research concludes that insufficient attention has been paid to the sensitivity issues
associated with the measurement of poverty.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219402 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Trigger, David Scott, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Management & Technology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright David Scott Trigger |
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