Assessing the extent and nature of chronic poverty in low income countries: issues and evidence

Discussions of chronic poverty have mostly considered its monetary dimensions, with current evidence suggesting that such poverty is much more transient than chronic. But chronic poverty is a real and important phenomenon, potentially more important quantitatively than it first appears once account is taken of different methodological approaches and inevitable measurement difficulties. The chronic poor have distinctive characteristics, such as lack of assets or high dependency rates, which may account for their persistent poverty. The paper argues that it is also necessary to develop concepts of chronic poverty further, covering relevant nonmonetary dimensions and not just relying on panel data.