Disagreeing about poverty: a case study in derivation dependence

Abstract

Conceptual problems have marked the poverty debate in Australia at least since the beginning of the 1980s . More recently, data and technical problems have compounded controversy over the best method to analyse poverty, over time or across countries and obscured judgement on the effectiveness of policy outcomes. Results obtained by Ann Harding and Deborah Mitchell in 1992 showed a net drop in measured poverty over the 1980s in Australia using a median income poverty line and the OECD equivalence scale. This was contrary to the 'official' steady growth shown in studies using the Henderson poverty line ... This paper examines why two groups of researchers reached different results using the same data source and derivational strategy. Show more