Measuring global poverty before and during the pandemic: a political economy of overoptimism

The contribution of this paper is to question the 'official' estimates of global monetary poverty up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue there is a political economy of overoptimism in the measurement of global poverty. Specifically, we show that the methodological and presentati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Third world quarterly 2022-01, Vol.43 (1), p.1-17
Main Authors: Sumner, Andy, Ortiz-Juarez, Eduardo, Hoy, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative approaches
COVID-19
crisis
Global poverty
Measurement
Optimism
Pandemics
Political economy
Poverty
precarity
Research methodology
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Summary:The contribution of this paper is to question the 'official' estimates of global monetary poverty up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue there is a political economy of overoptimism in the measurement of global poverty. Specifically, we show that the methodological and presentational choices can lead to an over optimistic view of the levels of, and trends in, global poverty. We provide an up-to-date critique of the global poverty estimates and demonstrate how patterns of poverty would differ if small changes in methodology were implemented. We conclude with a theoretical discussion of why such methodological choices that lead to an optimistic view of global poverty levels and trends are made. Subsequently, we propose an alternative approach to global poverty measurement.
ISSN:0143-6597
1360-2241
DOI:10.1080/01436597.2021.1995712