IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_648_21.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The poverty debate in Italy: from politics to statistics

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Brandolini

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

Some significant stages characterise the debate on poverty in Italy over the last seventy years: the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Poverty and the Means to Combat It in the early 1950s; the long period of the Poverty Commission, established in 1984 and definitively abolished in 2012; and the European Commission’s initiatives. When looking back at these stages from the specific perspective of statistical measurement, a close link emerges between the institutionalisation of the measure of poverty in official statistics and the political process, both national and international. The resulting wealth of statistical information, however, requires attention to be paid to the characteristics of the data to provide a correct reading. In the last two decades, a clear stratification of poverty by age and citizenship, which sees children and migrants at a disadvantage, has arisen alongside the traditional geographical divide. Looking ahead, the measurement assumption of an equal intra-household distribution appears to be less and less acceptable, due to its implications for the estimation of gender inequalities and child poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Brandolini, 2021. "The poverty debate in Italy: from politics to statistics," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 648, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
  • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_648_21
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2021-0648/QEF_648_21.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Brandolini, 1999. "The Distribution of Personal Income in Post-War Italy: Source Description, Data Quality, and the Time Pattern of Income Inequality," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 58(2), pages 183-239, September.
    2. Tony Atkinson & Bea Cantillon & Eric Marlier & Brian Nolan, 2002. "Indicators for Social Inclusion," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 7-28.
    3. Zekai He & Jingjing Ye & Xiuzhen Shi, 2020. "Housing wealth and household consumption in urban China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(8), pages 1714-1732, June.
    4. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2020. "Perspectives on Poverty in Europe. Following in Tony Atkinson’s Footsteps," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 129-155, March.
    5. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie & Valentina Duque, 2018. "Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1360-1446, December.
    6. Atkinson, A B, 1987. "On the Measurement of Poverty," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(4), pages 749-764, July.
    7. Andrea Brandolini & Silvia Magri & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2010. "Asset-based measurement of poverty," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 267-284.
    8. Giuseppina MALERBA, 2006. "Indicatori di vulnerabilità economica e tenore di vita delle famiglie in Lombardia," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 114(1-2), pages 211-240.
    9. Atkinson, Tony & Cantillon, Bea & Marlier, Eric & Nolan, Brian, 2002. "Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253494.
    10. Francesco Devicienti & Valentina Gualtieri, 2004. "Dinamiche e persistenza della povertà in Italia: Un’analisi con microdati panel di fonte ECHP," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 34, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    11. Anthony B. Atkinson & Eric Marlier & Brian Nolan, 2004. "Indicators and Targets for Social Inclusion in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 47-75, February.
    12. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    13. A. Atkinson, 2003. "Multidimensional Deprivation: Contrasting Social Welfare and Counting Approaches," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 1(1), pages 51-65, April.
    14. Angus Deaton & Salman Zaidi, 2002. "Guidelines for Constructing Consumption Aggregates for Welfare Analysis," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 14101, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    2. Rolf Aaberge & François Bourguignon & Andrea Brandolini & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Janet C. Gornick & John Hills & Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins & Eric Marlier & John Micklewright & Brian Nolan, 2017. "Tony Atkinson and his Legacy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(3), pages 411-444, September.
    3. Rolf Aaberge & Andrea Brandolini, 2014. "Multidimensional poverty and inequality," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 976, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 476-487, August.
    5. Espinoza-Delgado, José & Silber, Jacques, 2018. "Multi-dimensional poverty among adults in Central America and gender differences in the three I’s of poverty: Applying inequality sensitive poverty measures with ordinal variables," MPRA Paper 88750, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sabina Alkire & Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2010-11, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    7. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, 2009. "Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (Revised and Updated)," OPHI Working Papers 32, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    8. Andrea Brandolini, 2008. "On applying synthetic indices of multidimensional well-being: health and income inequalities in selected EU countries," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 668, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    9. Dipesh Gangopadhyay & Robert B. Nielsen & Velma Zahirovic-Herbert, 2021. "Methodology and Axiomatic Characterization of a Multidimensional and Fuzzy Measure of Deprivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 1-37, January.
    10. Maria Emma Santos, 2014. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Latin America: Previous Experience and the Way Forward," OPHI Working Papers 66, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    11. Marx, Ive & Nolan, Brian & Olivera, Javier, 2014. "The Welfare State and Anti-Poverty Policy in Rich Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 8154, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Espinoza-Delgado, José & López-Laborda, Julio, 2016. "Las tres Is de la pobreza multidimensional en Nicaragua y el diferencial de género en los primeros quince años del siglo XXI, a partir de un enfoque centrado en la persona [The three I’s of multidi," MPRA Paper 74997, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Ali Asadi & Gianni Betti & Francesca Gagliardi & Hossein Khoshbakht, 2018. "Multidimensional and fuzzy poverty at regional level in Iran," Department of Economics University of Siena 796, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    14. Francesco Farina, 2016. "The Path Dependency of Poverty Reduction Policies," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(1), pages 21-42.
    15. Rolf Aaberge & François Bourguignon & Andrea Brandolini & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Janet C. Gornick & John Hills & Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins & Eric Marlier & John Micklewright & Brian Nolan, 2017. "Tony Atkinson and his Legacy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(3), pages 411-444, September.
    16. Andrea Brandolini, 2007. "On Synthetic Indices Of Multidimensional Well-Being: Health And Income Inequalities In France, Germany, Italy And The United Kingdom," CHILD Working Papers wp07_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    17. Wei Su & Gianni Betti & Baris Ucar, 2020. "Longitudinal measures of fuzzy poverty: a focus on Czechia, Hungary and Poland after the crisis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 27-41, February.
    18. Sabina Alkire & James Foster, 2011. "Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 289-314, June.
    19. Espinoza-Delgado, José & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Nicaragua: evolución de la pobreza multidimensional, 2001-2009," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    20. Gianni Betti & Etienne Caruana & Sarah Gusman & Laura Neri, 2015. "Economic poverty and inequality at regional level in malta: focus on the situation of children," Экономика региона, CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение науки «Институт экономики Уральского отделения Российской академии наук», issue 3, pages 114-122.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; social exclusion; relative and absolute thresholds; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_648_21. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.