Measuring poverty in rich and poor countries

INTRODUCTION: There is, of course, no objective "scientifically correct" concept of poverty, so ,one ought not to be too pedantic about precisely which concept should be used in attempting to measure poverty. One knows when one sees an elephant without being able to define it and the same applies to poverty in many contexts. There must always be an arbitrary element in the selection of the concept to be used, and one must avoid the dangers of reification of abstract concepts. On the other hand, the fact that some definitions of poverty may be as valid as others does not mean that the definition can be left imprecise. For in that case one would not even know exactly what it is one is measuring and would not be able to make comparisons between poverty in different situations a,s a basis for any sort of valid inferences concerning whether it is worse in one than in the other or whether policy to alleviate poverty is having any impact. Of course, there are inumerable other obstacles to making such inferences, but one should not add to them by imprecise definitions of what it is one is measuring on the grounds that any definition is essentially arbitrary. The two issues are quite distinct