Ravallion, Martin2012-03-192012-03-192010-04-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3771National poverty lines vary greatly across the world, from under $1 per person per day to over $40 (at 2005 purchasing power parity). What accounts for these huge differences, and can they be understood within a common global definition of poverty? For all except the poorest countries, the absolute, nutrition-based, poverty lines found in practice tend to behave more like relative lines, in that they are higher for richer countries. Prevailing methods of setting absolute lines allow ample scope for such relativity, even when nutritional norms are common across countries. Both macro data on poverty lines across the world and micro data on subjective perceptions of poverty are consistent with a weak form of relativity that combines absolute consumption needs with social-inclusion needs that are positive for the poorest but rise with a country s mean consumption. The strong form of relativism favored by some developed countries -- whereby the line is set at a fixed proportion of the mean -- emerges as the limiting case for very rich countries.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE POVERTY LINEABSOLUTE POVERTY LINESAGGREGATE INCOMEAGGREGATE POVERTYAGREED METRICASSESSING WELFAREBASIC CONSUMPTIONBASIC CONSUMPTION NEEDSBASIC NEEDSBASIC NEEDS METHODCALORIC REQUIREMENTSCASE STUDYCOMMODITY BUNDLECOMMON UTILITY FUNCTIONCOMPARABLE UTILITY FUNCTIONCOMPARING POVERTYCONSISTENT POVERTY LINESCONSUMER DEMANDCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMPTION BUNDLECONSUMPTION DATACONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION NEEDSCONSUMPTION PER CAPITADEFINITIONS OF POVERTYDEMAND BEHAVIORDEMAND FUNCTIONSDEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONDERIVED UTILITY FUNCTIONDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT ISSUESDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHECONOMIC ACTIVITIESECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC CONDITIONSECONOMIC CONTRACTIONECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC MODELSECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC SURVEYSECONOMIC THEORYECONOMICSEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPEMPIRICAL STUDIESEMPIRICAL WORKEQUIVALENCE SCALEEQUIVALENCE SCALESESCAPE POVERTYEXCHANGE RATESEXPENDITURE FUNCTIONFOOD BUNDLEFOOD BUNDLESFOOD DEMAND FUNCTIONFOOD ENERGYFOOD ENERGY INTAKEFOOD GOODSFOOD ITEMSFOOD NEEDSFOOD POVERTYFOOD POVERTY LINEFOOD PRICESFOOD SHAREFOOD SPENDINGFOOD-ENERGY INTAKEFOOD-ENERGY REQUIREMENTSGEOGRAPHIC AREASGLOBAL MARKETSGLOBAL POVERTYHEADCOUNT INDEXHIGH ELASTICITYHIGH-INCOME COUNTRIESHOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICSHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORTINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOMEINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME ELASTICITYINCOME LEVELINCOME POVERTYINCOMES INCREASEINEQUALITYINTER-REGIONAL MIGRATIONLIVING INDEXLIVING STANDARDSLIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENTMEAN CONDITIONALMEAN INCOMEMEASURED INCREASEMEASURED POVERTYMEASUREMENT OF POVERTYMEASURING POVERTYMEATMICRO DATAMILKMONITORING POVERTYNATIONAL POVERTYNATIONAL POVERTY LINENATIONAL POVERTY LINESNON-FOOD COMPONENTNON-FOOD GOODSNON-FOOD ITEMSNON-FOOD NEEDSNON-FOOD PRICESNON-NUTRITIONAL FUNCTIONINGSNONFOOD COMPONENTNUTRITIONNUTRITIONAL INTAKENUTRITIONAL NORMSNUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTSNUTRITIONAL STATUSOBJECTIVE POVERTY LINESOFFICIAL POVERTYOFFICIAL POVERTY LINEPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR COUNTRIESPOOR PEOPLEPOVERTY ACROSS COUNTRIESPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY ASSESSMENTSPOVERTY BUNDLEPOVERTY BUNDLESPOVERTY COMPARISONSPOVERTY DYNAMICSPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY LEVELPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY PROFILEPOVERTY PROFILESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRICE CHANGESPRICE VECTORPRICES INCREASEPROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONPURCHASING POWERQUALITATIVE DATARANDOM VARIABLEREAL TERMSREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL POVERTYRELATIVE INCOMERELATIVE POSITIONRELATIVE PRICESRESULTING POVERTY LINESRICH COUNTRIESRURALRURAL AREASRURAL LINESETTING POVERTYSETTING POVERTY LINESSOCIAL SECURITYSOCIAL WELFARESUBJECTIVE POVERTYSUBJECTIVE POVERTY LINETARGETINGTOTAL POVERTYTOTAL POVERTY LINETRUE COST-OF-LIVING INDICESUNEMPLOYMENTURBAN AREASURBAN HOUSEHOLDSURBAN POVERTYURBAN POVERTY LINEURBAN SECTORUTILITY CONSISTENCYUTILITY FUNCTIONUTILITY INCONSISTENCIESUTILITY LEVELUTILITY-CONSISTENT POVERTYVEGETABLESWELFARE COMPARISONSWELFARE FUNCTIONWELFARE INDICATORWELFARE LEVELSWELFARE METRICWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5284