Look beyond monetary measures to track deprivation

The International Economic Association (IEA) conclave of 2023, a mecca for economists from all over the globe who meet once in three years, acknowledged last year as a difficult one, given how many mainstream assessments of a global recession and inflation went wrong.

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A need was emphasized for new intellectual ideas and methodological applications from beyond traditional economic thought, particularly in the context of scenarios in developing nations.

Another intriguing discussion at the IEA summit pivoted around measuring poverty to combat it. Economists argued for revising the global extreme-poverty line for better policy discourse by going beyond monetary markers to integrate these with other focal points of the world's development agenda (like sustainable development goals). This would help low-income countries get a clearer picture of what they need to do for addressing extreme deprivation so that global standards are met.

Are-plugged conversation, citing recommendations offered as part of the Atkinson Commission's report, How to Better Measure and Monitor Global Poverty, shaped this dialogue. The commission was created with the aim of advising the World Bank to move away from using a single monetary measure of poverty as a benchmark to monitor it. Paul Romer, chief economist of the Bank at the time, said that the Bank agreed with the commission's call for the extreme poverty line to be called "the International Poverty Line (IPL)" at $2.15 per day (and expressed in local currencies). The commission's report, however, emphasized the need to track nonmonetary deprivations in three domains: educational outcomes, access to healthcare, and access to basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.