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Measuring difference? The United Nations’ shift from progress to poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Bach, Maria
  • Morgan, Mary S.
Abstract
This paper examines how the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) redefined their idea of development over the two decades from 1990, no longer presenting it as only a matter of economic progress but instead focusing more on the problem of poverty and its reduction. This change of definition was closely associated with changes in the preferred measurement of development, from average income (based on national income accounting) to the proportion of the population holding certain characteristics of what it meant to live in poverty (instantiated in various index number formulations). Measurements of development thus became direct measures of socio-economic difference, not just between nations, but also within nations. This change was designed to create numbers that would be effective in capturing and communicating those differences in ways usable for both policy and public purposes. Those numbers thus provided a resource for fighting for poverty reduction – though the UNDP had few powers to hold governments to account.

Suggested Citation

  • Bach, Maria & Morgan, Mary S., 2020. "Measuring difference? The United Nations’ shift from progress to poverty," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101769, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:101769
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/101769/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, 2009. "Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (Revised and Updated)," OPHI Working Papers 32, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, "undated". "An econometric analysis of the bifurcation of within-country inequality trends in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2011," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2016-04, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    3. Frances Stewart and Michael Wang, "undated". "Do PRSPs Empower Poor Countries And Disempower The World Bank, or is it the Other Way Round?," QEH Working Papers qehwps108, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    4. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    5. Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," OPHI Working Papers 38, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    6. Sabina Alkire, James Foster, 2009. "Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (Short Version)," OPHI Working Papers 7_5, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    7. Sandra Granzow, 2000. "Our Dream : A World Free of Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2411.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; development; poverty indices; United Nations Development Program;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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