Poverty Measurement in ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’ Human Development Countries

Zemlja studiranja: Velika Britanija

Opis stipendije:

The ESRC large grant project on Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE), involving six universities across the UK, will collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data in order to deepen understanding of social exclusion. The international studentship will be linked to the PSE project, in order to build capacity in techniques of poverty measurement, and to examine the applicability of quantitative and qualitative research instruments in a country categorised by the UN Human Development Index (HDI) as either 'medium' or 'low'.

The method of poverty measurement pioneered by the PSE surveys, often referred to as the 'consensual' approach, has influenced official UK and EU poverty measures, but has rarely been used beyond Europe. The consensual method combines measures of income, material possessions and participation in social activities, with what the majority of people decide are 'the basic necessities of life'.  Defining the latter, in a robust and meaningful way, is a key element of the method. With some modification, it has been piloted in medium/low HDI countries, demonstrating that the technique is not necessarily dependant on sophisticated government statistical data or expensive surveys, and that 'basic necessities' are both culturally and economically specific. The doctoral research, therefore, involves adapting, applying and evaluating the consensual technique alongside the HDI itself and any other measures specific to the chosen country. The studentship provides a strategic opportunity to link with one of Queen's University's priority countries for internationalisation, which include India and China (both 'medium' HDI countries).