Abstract
Measuring Poverty Around the World is an engaging and fascinating read on more than one level. Author Anthony Atkinson died in 2017 as he was finishing his work on this book. Upon his request, and with the permission of his family and estate, the book was completed and edited by two of his close colleagues, John Micklewright (University College London) and Andrea Brandolini (Banca d’Italia). Micklewright and Brandolini provide an extensive “Foreword” that outlines the editorial choices they made—most notable is the decision to leave some chapters of the book incomplete. Thus, the resulting volume maintains Atkinson’s distinctive voice throughout the analysis as he attempts to answer the central questions of what constitutes human poverty and how can we recognize and best measure it across the globe. Throughout the book and in the concluding chapter, subsection headings with only blank empty spaces below provide the reader with a glimpse at the route Atkinson’s mind planned to take in answering these questions. Knowing that these blank sections would leave some readers unsatisfied, the editors asked Francois Bourguignon (former Chief Economist for the World Bank) and Nicholas Stern (London School of Economics) to provide two “Afterwords” that address key issues in the unfinished chapters and sections.
The true heart of the book is comprised of the first five chapters where Atkinson first sketches the outline of how the world has crafted many views and measures of human poverty but then questions what poverty actually means for those who are afflicted by deprivation and what can be done. Atkinson explores several long-standing and lingering questions about how to best define, characterize, and measure poverty—income versus consumption, individuals versus households, temporary versus intergenerational, and so on. Throughout these chapters, the importance of recognizing the multidimensional nature of poverty is central to the author’s arguments for constructing a realistic view of the global poverty problem. The extreme difficulties of choosing and accurately measuring appropriate data are front and center to Atkinson’s discourse. A full chapter is devoted to examining the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and their inclusion of ending poverty “in all its forms everywhere.” Readers unfamiliar with the statistical analysis of global poverty will benefit from the discussion of the relationship between the World Bank’s International Poverty Line, currently set at US$1.90 per day, and the local poverty lines that are defined by individual nations.
Atkinson clearly viewed poverty not only as a multidimensional problem but also as problem where context matters. His “All Around” approach and solution to dealing with the myriad of problems in measuring poverty is to recognize that one construct will never be attainable, or even desirable, for the task. He recommends taking a “checklist” perspective—Why are we measuring? How are we measuring? Do nonmonetary measures agree with monetary measures? Do we have appropriate data from appropriate samples? Who may be missing from the data? and so on. This viewpoint requires more thought and analysis, but it is one that is more realistic for a human problem with many dimensions that cannot be summarized in single statistic or soundbite.
The importance of societal context for Atkinson is reflected in his decision to devote three chapters to examining issues specific to countries in various parts of the world (Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and Latin America, and the Caribbean). These chapters are followed by one examining poverty in the rich nations of the world and the concept of a global poverty measure. In addition, the final section of the book consists of 60 “National Reports” that were completed by Micklewright and Brandolini following the comprehensive perspective of poverty as modeled by Atkinson.
The afterwords authored by Bourguignon and Stern cover the ongoing debates about economic growth and income inequality and the relationship between poverty and climate change. These are interesting and help fill in the gaps missing in the exposition due to the author’s passing. However, Atkinson’s distinctive voice is missing and leaves this reader wondering what he would have said on these topics.
For everyone interested in the human condition, this book is highly recommended reading. Those who edited and completed this posthumous volume for Atkinson should be commended for bringing his final book to fruition. During his lifetime, Atkinson studied under Solow, collaborated with Stiglitz and mentored Piketty. In the preface written shortly before his death, Sir Anthony Atkinson quotes liner notes from the latest Rolling Stones album. Surely, the economics profession has lost a unique voice.