Perceptions of poverty - The historical legacy

The legacy of past perceptions of poverty and its causes have been embodied in many core approaches to measure it. In turn, the way poverty Is identif ied and quantified, particularly in money metric terms and using poverty da tum lines, has influenced how governments have tried to deal with the probl em. in particular, the focus of attention on inadequacy of income rather th an satisfactory social functioning has led to the adoption of solutions emp hasising economic growth without sufficient attention being paid to the dis tributional aspects of that growth and the multi-facetted dimensions of pov erty.