Understanding Poverty Lines: What They Measure and What They Miss
Understanding Poverty Lines: What They Measure and What They Miss. Poverty lines do not appear complicated in the first place. Even the dollar amount of 2.15 a day or 29,950 of a U.S. family of four boasts to distinguish the poor and the non-poor. In the shadow of that obviousness are some serious questions as to what poverty is in the first place, how we are to enumerate it, and how to assist individuals who do not have adequate resources. It is important to know not only what poverty lines reveal but also what they conceal in case we want to take advantage of economic data, influence social initiatives, and perceive entire deprivation that cannot be defined only in terms of money. Architecture of Poverty Measurement. Poverty lines were designed by the government on practical lines and never on the beautiful theory. Economist Mollie Orshansky of 1963 in the United States pioneered the calculation of the cost of a food-only diet that fulfilled nutritional requirements and multiplied t...