An evaluation of the new Istat measures of absolute poverty and possible developments of definitions, methods and indicators
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71014/sieds.v78i4.413Abstract
In October 2023, Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics) published new measures of absolute poverty for the years 2022 and 2021. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, to evaluate merits and potential drawbacks of the new measures. Second, to present my vision on the developments of definitions, methods and indicators of poverty as a whole, taking into account all its manifestations and facets. The final suggestion is to implement a poverty data ecosystem in order to produce consistent public statistical information on all aspects of the phenomenon, essential for designing, implementing and monitoring adequate policies for poverty reduction at national and local level.
References
AMADI L., IGWE P. I. 2015. Reconceptualising Poverty Measurement for Sustainable Development, Review of Literature, Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 17, pp. 127-142.
BETTI G., LEMMI A. (Eds.) 2021. Analysis of Socio-Economic Conditions. Insights from a Fuzzy Multi-Dimensional Approach. Routledge.
BIGGERI L. 2022. Come, perché e dove si manifesta la povertà: si può misurare? Lecture video recording, Accademia toscana di scienze e lettere “La Colombaria”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZtXRkr6Oc0
BIGGERI L., PRATESI M. 2017. Monetary poverty indicators at local level: definitions, methods of estimation and comparisons in real terms. In Proceeding of 61st WSC of the International Statistical Institute, Morocco.
BIGGERI L., PRATESI M. 2022. Estimation of local spatial price indices using scanner data: methods used and experiments also to estimate poor-specific indices, Rivista di Statistica Ufficiale, No. 2/2022, pp. 9-42.
BIGGERI M., CUESTA J. A. 2021. An Integrated Framework for Child Poverty and
Well-Being Measurement: Reconciling Theories, Child Indicator Research, Vol. 14, pp. 821-846.
BISHOP J. A., LEE J. M., ZEAGER L. A. 2017. Incorporating spatial price adjustments in U.S: public policy analysis. ECINEQ Working Papers 438, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
BRANDOLINI A. 2021. Il dibattito sulla povertà in Italia, tra statistica e politica. Questioni di Economia e di Finanza (Occasional Papers) 648, Banca d’Italia.
CHELLI F. 2023. Conference opening speech. In Convegno “La povertà assoluta. Revisione della metodologia e prospettive di misura del fenomeno”, Roma: Istat. https://www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Intervento-Pres-Chelli-poverta.pdf
EUROSTAT 2015. EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology - 2015 Social/cultural participation and material deprivation. Eurostat Statistics Explained. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/
index.php?title=EU_statistics_on_income_and_living_conditions_(EU-SILC)_
methodology_-_2015_Social/cultural_participation_and_material_deprivation
EUROSTAT 2023. Key figures on European living conditions – 2023 edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
ISTAT 2009. La misura della povertà assoluta. Metodi e Norme n. 39. https://
www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/misura_della_poverta_assoluta.pdf
ISTAT 2023. Le Statistiche dell’Istat sulla Povertà - Anno 2022, Statistiche report. https://www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/REPORT-POVERTA-2022.pdf
MENYHÉRT B., CSERES-GERGELY Z., KVEDARAS V., MINA B., PERICOLI F., ZEC S. 2021. Measuring and monitoring absolute poverty (ABSPO) - Final Report. JRC Technical Report JRC127444, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
NUSSBAUM M. C. 2011. Creating capabilities. Harvard University Press.
PRATESI M. 2022. Povertà educativa: perché e come misurarla anche a livello territoriale. Alcune analisi e proposte, Politiche Sociali, No. 3/2022, pp. 373-398.
RAVALLION M. 2016. The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement and Policy. New York: Oxford University Press.
SANTOS-PAIS M. 1999. A human rights conceptual framework for UNICEF. Innocenti Essay 9, UNICEF IRC.
SARACENO C. 2023. Di che cosa parliamo quando parliamo di povertà assoluta. In Convegno “La povertà assoluta: Revisione della metodologia e prospettive di misura del fenomeno", Roma: Istat. https://www.istat.it/it/files//2023/10/
intervento-saraceno-poverta-assoluta.pdf
SARACENO C., BENASSI D., MORLICCHIO E. 2020. Poverty in Italy: Features and Drivers in a European Perspective. Bristol: Policy Press.
SAVE THE CHILDREN 2015. Illuminiamo il futuro 2030. Obiettivi per liberare i bambini dalla povertà educativa. Anual Report, Save the Children Italia.
SEN A. K. 1985. Well-being, agency and freedom: The Dewey lectures 1984, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 169-221.
SEN A. K. 1999. Development as freedom. New York: Oxford University Press.
SEN A. K. 2005. Human rights and capabilities, Journal of Human Development, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 151-166.
SEN A. K. 2007. Identity and violence: The illusion of destiny. Penguin Books India.
STREETEN P., BURKI S. J., HAQ U., HICKS N., STEWART F. 1981. First things first: Meeting basic human needs in the developing countries. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Luigi Biggeri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
