Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation

Elgar Handbooks in Development

Edited by Jacques Silber, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Encompassing chapters that address both unidimensional and multidimensional poverty, this timely Research Handbook explores all aspects of poverty and deprivation measurement, not only detailing broad issues but also scrutinising specific domains and aspects of poverty, such as health, energy and housing. Its succinct and highly focussed chapters, written by a diverse range of authors, employ a combination of theoretical and empirical methodologies to offer well-rounded explorations of complex topics.

‘Jacques Silber’s Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation is a monumental achievement. Its 67 chapters – plus introduction and epilogue – cover virtually every important topic in the contemporary measurement and economic analysis of poverty, with every single chapter written by leading experts in the field.’
-弗朗西斯科·h·g·费雷拉,伦敦School of Economics, UK

'This Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation, edited by Professor Jaques Silber, is unique in its structure and in the breadth and depth of topics covered. True to the old phrase, good things come in small packages, the Handbook presents bite sized chapters imparting the wisdom of over a hundred eminent researchers in this field. The Handbook is encyclopedic as it covers: uni- and multidimensional measures of poverty; poverty in specific domains including health, education, energy, housing and water; poverty among children, adults and the elderly; national, regional and global poverty; and, finally, interrelationships between poverty and economic insecurity, gender, mortality and inequality of opportunity. The Handbook also includes specialized statistical topics such as small area estimation; Bayesian approach; and standard errors associated with poverty measures. Researchers, analysts, policy makers and graduate students will find the treasure of information invaluable and the Handbook indispensable.'
– D.S. Prasada Rao, The University of Queensland, Australia

‘Jacques Silber’s Handbook constitutes a veritable intellectual treat to all those interested in poverty measurement.’
– From the epilogue by Nora Lustig, Tulane University, US

‘This is an impressive volume in its broad coverage of poverty analysis from different perspectives. It should be useful for all who are working in this area and practitioners interested in the practical applications of theoretical models of poverty analysis, particularly, for policy purposes.'
– Satya R. Chakravarty, Indian Statistical Institute and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India

‘Jacques Silber deserves much credit for assembling a comprehensive and informative collection of papers on measuring poverty and extreme inequality by a first-rate and diverse collection of authors ... It will long influence the evolution of the field.’
– from the Foreword by James J. Heckman, University of Chicago, US