| The vast literature about poverty is organized around various ways of understanding this complex phenomenon. Income, exclusion/inclusion, levels of well-being, deprivation indices, access to material goods are only few of the conceptual tools that have been utilized as measures of poverty. The manner in which poverty is measured reflects fundamental assumptions as to its nature and causes (see Thorpe Chapter 2). Usually, poverty measurements and subsequent policy/programme implications, depend on what facets or angles of poverty are being addressed (Lok-Dessallien 1997) |
