Chronic Poverty: A Review of Current Quantitative Evidence, CPRC Working Paper No. 15

Abstract

This paper reviews existing evidence on chronic and transient poverty based on quantitative studies. A first issue is to consider available evidence on the relative importance of these two forms of poverty. But it is also important to the characteristics of those affected by each type of poverty, to give some indication as to likely underlying factors. This can also be supplemented by information on the factors associated with poverty transitions, that is movements into and out of poverty (which may help in understanding why the chronic poor do not make these transitions). All this can help inform appropriate responses to chronic and transient poverty.

The next section addresses the issue of defining chronic and transient poverty, setting out the various difficulties that arise in practice and discussing data sources. Analysis of chronic and transient poverty is generally based on longitudinal or panel data sets; section 3 reviews evidence from a number of countries on the extent and nature of chronic and transient poverty based on such data sets, as well as the factors associated with transitions. Section 4 discusses the options for assessing the extent and nature of chronic poverty in situations where standard longitudinal data sets are not available. Section 5 concludes with the identification of priorities for future research.

Citation

Chronic Poverty: A Review ofCurrent Quantitative Evidence, CPRC Working Paper No. 15, Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), Manchester, UK, ISBN 1-904049-14-1, 28 pp.

Chronic Poverty: A Review of Current Quantitative Evidence, CPRC Working Paper No. 15

Published 1 January 2002