Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on March 3, 2009
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/ben046
Poverty, time and vagueness: integrating the core poverty and chronic poverty frameworks
* Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester, UK
Address for correspondence: David Clark, 237 Bexley Road, Eltham, London SE9 2PN, UK; email: david_a_clark{at}hotmail.com
In recent decades there have been considerable steps forward in terms of understanding poverty. This paper identifies three meta-dimensions of poverty, which relate to: (i) depth and severity; (ii) breadth and multidimensionality; and (iii) time and duration. The advances that have been made in terms of conceptualising, measuring and analysing poverty in each of these areas are briefly considered. It is shown that the third and final meta-dimension—time and duration—has been neglected until relatively recently. It is argued that time, and, in particular, duration is an important analytical component for understanding the experience of poverty and the processes that create and reduce poverty. The final part of the paper suggests a way of integrating time into a unified framework for understanding poverty, which can deal with the depth, breadth and duration of poverty. This involves extending Mozaffar Qizilbash's poverty and vagueness methodology to include duration.
Key Words: Poverty Vagueness Time Multidimensionality Well-being
JEL classifications: B41, I31, I32, O1
Manuscript received January 22, 2007; final version received July 15, 2008.