MEASURING TRENDS IN POVERTY OVER TIME: SOME ROBUST RESULTS FOR IRELAND 1980-87. ESRI Working Paper No. 7, December 1988

In order to be able to say whether "poverty has gone up or down in a particular society between year 1 and year 2, we must first of all specify what we mean by the term. Having done so, a poverty line which allows us to distinguish the poor from the non-poor is customarily specified for each year. The extent of poverty based on these lines must then be measured, either simply through counting the number falling below the line or through more complex measures which also take into account the depth of poverty for these people