Poverty and Inequality in Development Policy: Concepts of Poverty, Vulnerability and Livelihood

Abstract

Social inequality with a focus on poverty has been part and parcel of the development debate at least since the 1970s. The main data on inequality is provided by development organisations (World Development Report, Human Development Report). These reports offer an increasingly nuanced analysis of inequality from the late 1970s up to the present. With Amartya Sen’s writings, the concept of poverty went beyond the simplified notion of per capita income, and current concepts include access to entitlements and freedom of action. Sen’s ground-breaking ideas led to multi-dimensional concepts of poverty, including access to basic needs and assets to guarantee survival. These applied concepts show that simple criteria such as control over the means of production, or occupational position, cannot describe people’s social position and vulnerability.