Identifying the Poor: Using Subjective and Consensual Measures: Using Subjective and Consensual Measures

464 Pages·2017·16.737 MB·English

by  Karel Van den Bosch

IDENTIFYING THE POOR
Voor mijn vader en moeder
Identifying the Poor
Using subjective and consensual measures
KAREL VAN DEN BOSCH
Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp (Ufsia)
D Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2001 by Ashgate Publishing
Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright © Karel Van den Bosch 2001
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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number:
2001093301
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-72405-1 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-19266-6 (ebk)
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Preface xv
1 Defining and Measuring Poverty 1
What is poverty? 1
Poverty measures currently used in empirical research 7
Conclusion 12
2 Consensual Income Methods 13
Introduction and overview 13
The relativity of the consensual income threshold 18
Variation in the consensual income amounts 23
Income equivalence 26
The meaning of "getting along" 29
Some results for Belgium 32
Summary and conclusions 39
Appendix 2.1 A re-analysis of consensual income amounts
time series 43
3 The Consensual Standard of Living Approach 49
Introduction and a cross-country comparison 49
Factors influencing people’s perception of necessities in
Britain and Belgium 59
Perceptions of necessity of different items: are they related? 68
Factors influencing the total number of necessities 72
Stability in time of perceptions of necessity in Belgium 74
Summary and conclusions 78
vi Identifying the Poor
4 Income Evaluation Methods: A Review 87
Introduction 87
The SPL and LPL methods 88
Main results: a review 98
The effects of other variables: a review 110
Reference group effects 132
The income concept in the mind of the respondent 142
5 Income Evaluation Methods: Empirical Results for Belgium 169
Introduction 169
Quality, reliability and construct validity of the answers to the
IEQ and the MIQ 170
Empirical determinants of income evaluations 193
Equivalence scales, income thresholds and low-income rates 216
Appendix 5.1 Details on sample design and calculation of
standard errors 242
6 Interpretation, Validity and Usefulness of the Income
Evaluation Method 249
Introduction 249
Is the IEQ a cardinal measure of welfare? 250
Interpersonal comparability of the answers to the income
evaluation questions 268
Income evaluations as indicators of a social consensus 275
Income evaluations as indirect measures of welfare 277
Reliability and validity of the answers to the MIQ and IEQ 281
Validity of the equivalence scales produced by the income
evaluation approach: why are they so flat? 284
Validity and usefulness of the SPL and LPL income
thresholds 295
Conclusion: interpretation, validity and usefulness of the
income evaluation approach 300
7 The Income Satisfaction Method 309
Introduction 309
Derivation of equivalence scales and poverty thresholds 310
Overview of other studies 312
Contents vii
Specification of the relationship between household income
and income satisfaction 319
Quality, reliability and validity of income satisfaction
measures 321
A probit model of income satisfaction 328
Equivalence scales and income thresholds 340
The 'rosy-outlook' effect 345
Random measurement error in household income 347
Income satisfaction and reference income 352
Satisfaction from income and the evaluation of income:
different concepts? 365
Summary and conclusion 371
8 Summary and Conclusions 389
Introduction 389
The definition and measurement of poverty 390
The consensual income method 391
The consensual standard-of-living approach 393
The income evaluation approach 397
The income satisfaction method 407
Concluding remarks 411
Bibliography 417

List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Concepts used in the definition or measurement of
poverty 6
Figure 4.1 The relationship between log-minimum income and
log-income for a given family size 89
Figure 4.2 The effect of a change in family size on log-minimum
income and the log-poverty line 91
Figure 4.3 Welfare functions of income (WFIs) of three
individuals 94
Figure 4.4 LPL0.4, LPL0.5 and SPL income thresholds, as a
percent of median income in sample, according to a
number of studies 107
Figure 5.1 Interpretation of IEQ-parameter answers to IEQ of
three hypothetical respondents 183
Figure 5.2 Box-Cox transformation test of functional form of p
and logYmin equations: Log-likelihood for a range
ofA,'s 201
Figure 5.3 Distribution of answers to MIQ (Ymin), as a
percentage of perceived household income (Yp), for
five income groups (lowest income group in
background), Belgium, 1985, 1988 and 1992 202
Figure 5.4 Evolution of regional SPLs and LPLs (Kapteyn-
Muffels model) 228
Figure 7.1 Income satisfaction (S), actual welfare (W) and
reference welfare (Rw) 357