Poverty over time: empirical findings

In this chapter, we review the empirical literature on poverty over time that, since the end of the 1970s, has tried to find adequate answers to three main issues. The first is to provide an adequate measure of total inter-temporal poverty observed along a given time span in order to measure the relevance of chronic and transitory poverty. The second issue is to identify the main characteristics associated with each inter-temporal poverty type, its major determinants and consequences on individual well-being. Finally, a third key question is to identify which are the most effective policies in fighting against the poverty phenomenon by adequately focusing each alleviating policy on the individuals with a particular time poverty profile.