Defining, measuring and talking about poverty: the case of Finland

Abstract

Scholars have always disagreed about the definition and measurement of poverty. This article looks at these issues in the light of Finnish poverty research. The chief target of the methodological criticism is the use of equivalence scales or units of individual consumption in the comparison of individual people's disposable income. The main argument against this method is that it tends to be based on the implicit assumption that “people with low incomes need less money”. Another major concern is to demonstrate the key significance of the empirical definition of poverty. Different methods of calculation single out very different groups of poor people Furthermore, part of the poor people are excluded from all conventional definitions.