Poverty, Social Exclusion, and Income Dispersion:
Measurement, Explanations, and Policy Responses
Edited by Douglas J. Besharov
Book Prospectus
Many people believe that European countries use only relative measures of poverty (such as 40, 50, or 60
percent of median household income). Many countries, however, use a more diverse array of measures (as do
some international organizations, such as the OECD and the World Bank). These include measures of "absolute
poverty," "subsistence poverty," "administrative poverty," "social poverty," "consumption poverty," and
"social exclusion."
At least three factors seem to be helping to diversify European measures of poverty: (1) the growing
income-inequality in most countries, caused by such factors as greater returns on skills/education, the
increase in two-earner households (similar to the US), and high levels of unemployment or nonwork; (2)
the growth of immigrant populations and the consequently changing views about "social solidarity"; and
(3) the palpable limitations (and inequities) of using relative measures across affluent and
transitional (that is, Eastern European) economies.
What are these other measures, how and why are they used, and what lessons do they provide for the
American debate about measuring poverty? Of additional importance are the policy and political implications
of greater income dispersion (or inequality).
This volume would be developed under the auspices of Besharov�s Center for the International
Exchange of Policy Information at the University of Maryland in collaboration with the Organization
for Economic Development and Cooperation�s Division of Social Policy. The project is in its
formative stage and arrangements with various authors are currently being explored. Possible
chapters would include:
The use of relative and absolute measures of poverty:
Advantages and disadvantages
Europe�s growing income dispersion: Causes and implications
for poverty measurement and social policy of growing income inequality
Measuring poverty in transitional economies
Poverty measures and program eligibility: The
difference and the interaction
When income is not enough: "Social exclusion"
as a supplemental poverty concept
Life-cycle perspectives on income and poverty
Editor
Douglas J. Besharov, Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Resident Scholar
at the American Enterprise Institute, and President of the Association for Pubic Policy Analysis
and Management
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