Understanding Poverty Rates and Gaps surveys key developments in applied and theoretical research on poverty rates and poverty gaps over the past two decades, providing a detailed analysis of poverty trends across a variety of income measures and poverty indexes.

The author extensively summarizes how poverty thresholds and economic resources are measured and examines several proposed recommendations for revision. In addition, axiomatically derived alternatives to the standard poverty rate are discussed. These provide estimates not only of the incidence of poverty, but also the intensity and the inequality of poverty.

The empirical analysis shows that while poverty rates fell in the late 1990s, deep poverty held steady and even rose for broad income measures. Understanding Poverty Rates and Gaps concludes with a discussion of a number of new challenges facing poverty measurement and recommendations for future research and policy.