Revisiting Poverty and Welfare Dominance

Abstract:     
The paper reviews the theory of the measurement of poverty. The axiomatic theory is described and the axiomatic properties of poverty indexes are related to assumptions on the functional form of the poverty index function. The notion of poverty ordering is then introduced and followed by a review of the relations between the poverty orderings than can be defined from classes of poverty index functions with well-defined functional form properties and the notions of first order and second order stochastic dominance. The analysis applies the results used in the theory of economic inequality to study the relationship between welfare orderings and Lorenz dominance. The theory is used to analyze poverty patterns in Italy in 1997-2005.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 54

Keywords: economic inequality, poverty, poverty ordering, stochastic dominance

JEL Classification: D63, I32

working papers series