Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/237379 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 914
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
The paper discusses the main issues related to negative and zero incomes that are relevant for the measurement of poverty. It shows the prevalence of non-positive incomes in high- and middle-income countries, provides an analysis of the sources and structure of these incomes, outlines the various approaches proposed by scholars and statistical agencies to treat non-positive incomes, and explains how non-positive incomes and alternative correction methods impact the measurement of standard poverty indexes. It is argued that negative and zero incomes cannot be treated equally in terms of household well-being and that standard methods used by practitioners fail to recognize this fact likely resulting in overestimations of poverty.
Subjects: 
Welfare measurement
Well-being
Poverty targeting
High- and middle-income countries
Survey non-response
Negative incomes
Zero incomes
Extreme income corrections
JEL: 
D31
D63
I32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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