The meticulous and passionate editorial work of John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini has enabled the publication of Measuring Poverty Around the World, a posthumous opus from Anthony B. Atkinson, a leading and inspirational authority in the field of poverty and inequality. This book demonstrates the strength of Atkinson’s legacy for future generations of poverty scholars and underscores how the centrality of poverty to the political debate makes its measurement both a vital and delicate task, writes Roberto Iacono

Iacono, Roberto

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LSE Research Online

Book	Review	|	Measuring	Poverty	Around	the	Worldby	Anthony	B.	Atkinson,	edited	by	John	Micklewrightand	Andrea	BrandoliniThe	meticulous	and	passionate	editorial	work	of	John	Micklewright	and	Andrea	Brandolini	has	enabled	thepublication	of	Measuring	Poverty	Around	the	World,	a	posthumous	opus	from	Anthony	B.	Atkinson,	a	leadingand	inspirational	authority	in	the	field	of	poverty	and	inequality.	This	book	demonstrates	the	strength	of	Atkinson’slegacy	for	future	generations	of	poverty	scholars	and	underscores	how	the	centrality	of	poverty	to	the	politicaldebate	makes	its	measurement	both	a	vital	and	delicate	task,	writes	Roberto	Iacono.Picture:	lloorraa	from	PixabayMeasuring	Poverty	Around	the	World.	Anthony	B.	Atkinson,	edited	by	John	Micklewright	and	AndreaBrandolini.	Princeton	University	Press.	2019.The	British	economist	Sir	Tony	Atkinson	(1944–2017)	was	an	authority	in	thefield	of	poverty	and	inequality,	inspiring	communities	of	scholars	andsignificantly	impacting	the	world	of	policy.	In	this	posthumous	opus,	recentlypublished	following	Atkinson’s	passing	in	2017	thanks	to	meticulous	andpassionate	editorial	work	by	John	Micklewright	and	Andrea	Brandolini,	Atkinsonsummarises	his	life	contributions	to	the	field	of	poverty.	In	this	review,	I	will	tryto	do	justice	to	the	broad	scope	of	the	book,	although	I	will	concentraterelatively	less	on	Chapters	Six	to	Nine,	which	focus	on	poverty	in	specificregions	of	the	world	(Asia	and	the	Pacific,	Africa,	Latin	America	and	theCaribbean	as	well	as	in	rich	countries),	as	this	section	is	unfortunately	leftrelatively	more	incomplete	than	the	rest.	Atkinson	had	also	planned	to	build	abridge	in	the	book	from	the	focus	on	poverty	and	inequality	to	the	related	issuesof	economic	growth	and	climate	change.	These	two	aspects	have	beenelegantly	covered	in	the	two	Afterwords	by	leading	scholars	FrancoisBourguignon	and	Nicholas	Stern.One	of	the	overarching	aims	of	Measuring	Poverty	Around	the	World	is	tohighlight	how	the	centrality	of	poverty	to	the	political	debate	makes	itsmeasurement	a	delicate	and	important	task.	Throughout	the	book,	Atkinsoncarefully	pins	down	the	steps	required	for	meaningful	and	well-informed	poverty	measurement:	from	the	variousdefinitions	of	poverty,	to	analysing	the	key	role	of	data	and,	finally,	bridging	monetary	and	non-monetary	povertymeasures.	Among	all	the	sentences	summarising	Atkinson’s	view	on	the	subject,	my	choice	falls	on	these:Democratic Audit: Book Review | Measuring Poverty Around the World by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2019-08-24Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2019/08/24/book-review-measuring-poverty-around-the-world-by-anthony-b-atkinson-edited-by-john-micklewright-and-andrea-brandolini/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/The	measurement	of	poverty	is	not	a	purely	technical	subject.	This	book	is	not	like	a	guide	to	plumbing,because	the	right	answers	depend	on	views	that	are	politically	influenced	and,	at	heart,	matters	of	moraljudgement.	They	are	influenced	by	culture	and	history	(212).(I	let	the	reader	judge	the	contrast	between	this	view	and	Esther	Duflo’s	2017	lecture,	‘The	Economist	as	Plumber’,in	which	she	advocates	that	‘economists	should	seriously	engage	with	plumbing’.)Another	underlying	message	of	the	book	regards	the	importance	of	the	linkage	between	assessing	the	performanceof	governments	(through	careful	poverty	measurement)	and	political	action.	Atkinson	underlines	that	highlighting	thelack	of	progress	in	tackling	poverty	around	the	world	has	the	important	effect	of	reminding	governments	of	theirresponsibility	in	providing	better	solutions.	Statistical	evidence	on	poverty	motivates	political	action.	In	Atkinson’sown	words:	‘The	ability	to	monitor	progress	is	the	first	prerequisite	for	effective	action’	(4).In	discussing	‘Why	should	we	be	concerned’	about	poverty	in	a	sub-section	of	Chapter	One,	Atkinson	analyses‘instrumental’	versus	‘intrinsic’	motivations.	Whilst	instrumental	concerns	are	related	to	the	direct	consequences	forone’s	wellbeing	from	living	in	an	unequal	world,	the	intrinsic	motives	are	more	related	to	ethical	and	moraljudgements	that	lead	to	worry	for	the	‘distant	poor’.	Atkinson	seems	to	disregard	the	ground	for	instrumentalconcerns	(10),	claiming	that	the	causal	connection	between	poverty	and	inequality	on	the	one	hand	and	socialproblems	on	the	other,	is	a	tough	one	to	establish.	In	my	view,	instrumental	reasons	should	be	kept	as	an	importantpart	of	the	motivation	for	being	concerned	with	poverty,	regardless	of	which	method	one	employs	to	establish	theconnection	between	poverty	and	a	broader	array	of	social	problems.	Relying	on	both	intrinsic	and	instrumentalmotivations	would,	in	other	words,	provide	a	broader	rationale	for	the	fight	against	poverty	all	around	the	world.As	regards	intrinsic	concerns,	Atkinson	depicts	two	opposing	standpoints.	On	the	one	hand,	the	‘isolationist’	view	ofthe	world	focuses	exclusively	on	the	wellbeing	of	individuals	within	a	given	society/country,	assigning	a	null	weightto	the	‘distant	poor’.	In	contrast,	the	‘global	cosmopolitan’	view	assigns	the	same	weight	to	each	and	everyindividual,	hence	implying	equal	care	about	the	levels	of	poverty	and	forms	of	deprivation	in	every	corner	of	theglobe.	In	between	these	extreme	views,	the	‘limited	sympathy’	perspective	recognises	the	importance	of	eliminatingdeprivations	around	the	world;	however,	it	gives	greater	weight	to	tackling	poverty	at	home.	Although	in	my	opinionAtkinson’s	inclination	in	the	book	lends	itself	relatively	more	towards	the	‘global	cosmopolitan’	view,	he	does	notforget	to	cite	and	give	justice	to	the	reasons	behind	other	perspectives.One	distinctive	feature	of	the	book	is	the	attempt	to	link	the	measurement	of	poverty	carried	out	by	internationalorganisations	(the	World	Bank	and	the	United	Nations	Development	Programme	(UNDP)	among	others)	todomestic	estimates	provided	by	the	national	statistical	offices,	and	to	analyse	the	reasons	behind	potentialdiscrepancies	between	the	two.	This	is	done	in	the	final	part	of	the	book,	which	comprises	national	reports	of	theestimates	of	poverty	for	60	countries.	The	painstaking	work	by	Atkinson	in	setting	up	these	reports,	in	which	povertyand	inequality	estimates	by	the	World	Bank	are	compared	with	estimates	by	the	national	statistical	offices,	providesan	important	reference	for	scholars	and	policymakers	interesting	in	the	specific	country	cases.	The	scope	of	thisexercise	is	not	purely	instrumental,	in	the	sense	that	Atkinson	believed	that	bridging	the	two	dimensions	is	crucialfor	the	reliability	of	global	and	domestic	estimates.	In	addition,	by	travelling	back	from	global	to	local	estimates	ofpoverty,	the	concept	of	poverty	gains	domestic	political	relevance	and	makes	its	measurement	(at	any	level)	moreaccountable.The	book	also	comprises	a	long	and	detailed	overview	of	the	rationale	behind	the	development	of	non-monetarymeasures	of	poverty:	for	instance,	multidimensional	poverty	and	deprivation	indices	(such	as	the	MultidimensionalPoverty	Index	(MPI)	by	the	Oxford	Poverty	and	Human	Rights	Initiative	(OPHI)	and	its	recent	Global	counterpart).Interestingly,	Atkinson	does	not	see	monetary	and	non-monetary	poverty	measures	as	providing	two	distinctpictures,	and	shows	in	Chapter	Five	how	the	two	approaches	instead	strengthen	each	other	(160).	In	other	words,he	demonstrates	that	for	most	regions	of	the	world	the	incidence	of	non-monetary	deprivation	appears	to	be	higherwhere	the	level	of	monetary	poverty	is	higher,	confirming	the	importance	of	income	as	a	determinant	of	wellbeing.Democratic Audit: Book Review | Measuring Poverty Around the World by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2019-08-24Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2019/08/24/book-review-measuring-poverty-around-the-world-by-anthony-b-atkinson-edited-by-john-micklewright-and-andrea-brandolini/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/Towards	the	end	of	the	book	in	Chapter	Nine,	Atkinson	returns	to	an	issue	that	has	been	central	to	his	research:namely,	incorporating	poverty	in	both	poor	and	rich	countries	into	a	single	‘global	poverty	measure’	(Atkinson	andBourguignon,	2001).	His	view	is	that	estimating	poverty	by	taking	into	account	societal	standards	which	differacross	countries,	rather	than	applying	the	same	International	Poverty	Line	(IPL)	across	the	globe,	enriches	thedefinition	of	global	poverty.	The	approach	advocated	is	rather	simple:	selecting	the	IPL	(currently	$1.90	inpurchasing	power	parity	terms)	as	the	threshold	for	monetary	poverty	in	countries	with	low	mean	consumption,whilst	the	bar	for	monetary	poverty	rises	linearly	with	mean	consumption	per	head	in	richer	countries	(hencefocusing	on	relative	poverty	in	richer	countries	rather	than	its	absolute	version).	In	this	way,	one	can	get	relativelymore	meaningful	estimates	of	the	number	of	poor	individuals	in	the	world,	avoiding	the	uncomfortable	result	thatpoverty	is	absent	in	rich	countries	since	barely	anyone	has	a	consumption	below	the	IPL.	Based	on	this	approach,Atkinson	estimates	that	the	number	of	individuals	in	the	world	living	in	poor	households	was	between	1.22	and	2.02billion	in	2013	(depending	on	the	choice	of	the	gradient	for	relative	poverty	in	richer	countries).	This	truly	‘global’poverty	measure	builds	on	the	‘global	cosmopolitan	view’	put	forward	by	the	author	in	Chapter	One,	since	tacklingpoverty	is	given	equal	importance	at	home	as	abroad.	As	opposed	to	this,	the	‘limited	sympathy’	view	would	entailthat,	for	each	country,	we	have	a	nationally	specific	count	of	world	poverty,	since	citizens	of	a	given	country	wouldassign	lower	value	to	tacking	poverty	in	faraway	countries.One	minor	weakness	of	the	book	is	the	complexity	of	its	structure,	with	general	topics	(such	as	‘growth,	inequalityand	poverty	reduction’)	being	treated	within	the	chapters	devoted	to	poverty	in	specific	regions	of	the	world,	ratherthan	standing	alone	in	dedicated	chapters.In	conclusion,	the	main	lesson	to	be	learned	from	this	book	is	that	poverty	is	a	non-static	and	multifaceted	concept,continuously	requiring	new	ways	of	thinking	and	a	greater	diversity	of	approaches,	both	when	it	comes	tointerpretation	and	its	measurement.	The	legacy	of	Sir	Tony	Atkinson	for	the	future	generations	of	poverty	scholarsis	strong	and	clear,	and	I	personally	look	forward	to	seeing	its	impact	in	the	decades	to	come.This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	Democratic	Audit.	It	was	first	published	on	the	LSEReview	of	Books	blog.Roberto	Iacono	is	an	Associate	Professor	in	Economics	and	Social	Policy	at	the	Norwegian	University	of	Scienceand	Technology	(NTNU).	His	latest	research	is	at	the	intersection	between	Public	Economics,	Labour	Economicsand	Political	Economy,	with	a	focus	on	(i)	economic	inequality	and	(ii)	policy-relevant	questions	related	to	the‘Nordic	model’	of	economic	development	and	welfare.	Roberto	Iacono	is	also	Managing	Editor	of	the	Journal	ofIncome	Distribution	(JID).Similar	Posts‘Stuck	in	their	ways’:	how	we	blame	the	poor	for	their	failure	to	embrace	globalisationBrexit	should	be	a	wake	up	call	in	the	fight	against	inequalityForget	independence	for	London	–	but	the	capital	now	needs	its	own	devolved	government	more	than	everBook	Review:	Hard	Times:	Inequality,	Recession,	Aftermath	by	Tom	Clark	with	Anthony	HeathCovid-19	is	increasing	the	divide	in	life	chances	between	rich	and	poorDemocratic Audit: Book Review | Measuring Poverty Around the World by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2019-08-24Permalink: https://www.democraticaudit.com/2019/08/24/book-review-measuring-poverty-around-the-world-by-anthony-b-atkinson-edited-by-john-micklewright-and-andrea-brandolini/Blog homepage: https://www.democraticaudit.com/

Book review: Measuring poverty around the world by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini

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Book review: Measuring poverty around the world by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini

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