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

Andy Sumner, Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez, Christopher Hoy

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    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.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-17
    JournalThird World Quarterly
    Volume43
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

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