Poverty and inequality remain at the top of the global economic agenda, and the methodology of measuring poverty continues to be a key area of research. This new book, from a leading international group of scholars, offers an up to date and innovative survey of new methods for estimating poverty at the local level, as well as the most recent multidimensional methods of the dynamics of poverty. It is argued here that measures of poverty and inequality are most useful to policy-makers and researchers when they are finely disaggregated into small geographic units. Poverty and Social Exclusion: New Methods of Analysis is the first attempt to compile the most recent research results on local estimates of multidimensional deprivation. The methods offered here take both traditional and multidimensional approaches, with a focus on using the methodology for the construction of time-related measures of deprivation at the individual and aggregated levels. In analysis of persistence over time, the book also explores whether the level of deprivation is defined in terms of relative inequality in society, or in relation to some supposedly absolute standard. This book is of particular importance as the continuing international economic and financial crisis has led to the impoverishment of segments of population as a result of unemployment, bankruptcy, and difficulties in obtaining credit. The volume will therefore be of interest to all those working on economic, econometric and statistical methods and empirical analyses in the areas of poverty, social exclusion and income inequality.

Showcasing fuzzy set theory, this book highlights the enormous potential of fuzzy logic in helping to analyse the complexity of a wide range of socio-economic patterns and behaviour. The contributions to this volume explore the most up-to-date fuzzy-set methods for the measurement of socio-economic phenomena in a multidimensional and/or dynamic perspective. Thus far, fuzzy-set theory has primarily been utilised in the social sciences in the field of poverty measurement. These chapters examine the latest work in this area, while also exploring further applications including social exclusion, the labour market, educational mismatch, sustainability, quality of life and violence against women. The authors demonstrate that real-world situations are often characterised by imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, which cannot be properly described by the classical set theory which uses a simple true-false binary logic. By contrast, fuzzy-set theory has been shown to be a powerful tool for describing the multidimensionality and complexity of social phenomena. This book will be of significant interest to economists, statisticians and sociologists utilising quantitative methods to explore socio-economic phenomena.

Recent theoretical and empirical studies have concluded that in order to be accurate, poverty and deprivation must be measured within a multidimensional framework that is consistent, efficient, and statistically robust. The fuzzy sets approach to poverty measurement was developed in the early 1990s and continues to be refined by scholars of economics and sociology who find the traditional monetary-only indicators to be inadequate and arbitrary. This volume brings together advanced thinking on the multidimensional measurement of poverty, including the theoretical background, applications to cross-sections using contemporary European examples, and longitudinal aspects of multidimensional fuzzy poverty analysis that pay particular attention to the transitory, or impermanent, conditions that often occur during transitions to market economies.

Showcasing fuzzy set theory, this book highlights the enormous potential of fuzzy logic in helping to analyse the complexity of a wide range of socio-economic patterns and behaviour. The contributions to this volume explore the most up-to-date fuzzy-set methods for the measurement of socio-economic phenomena in a multidimensional and/or dynamic perspective. Thus far, fuzzy-set theory has primarily been utilised in the social sciences in the field of poverty measurement. These chapters examine the latest work in this area, while also exploring further applications including social exclusion, the labour market, educational mismatch, sustainability, quality of life and violence against women. The authors demonstrate that real-world situations are often characterised by imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, which cannot be properly described by the classical set theory which uses a simple true-false binary logic. By contrast, fuzzy-set theory has been shown to be a powerful tool for describing the multidimensionality and complexity of social phenomena. This book will be of significant interest to economists, statisticians and sociologists utilising quantitative methods to explore socio-economic phenomena.

This impressive collection from some of today's leading distributional analysts provides an overview a wide range of economic, statistical and sociological relationships that have been opened up for scientific study by the work of two turn-of-the-20th-century economists: C. Gini and M. O. Lorenz. The authors include such figues as Barry Arnold and Frank Cowell and the resulting book deserves its place on the bookshelf of serious mathematical economists everywhere.

This impressive collection from some of todaya (TM)s leading distributional analysts provides an overview a wide range of economic, statistical and sociological relationships that have been opened up for scientific study by the work of two turn-of-the-20th-century economists: C. Gini and M. O. Lorenz.

The authors include such figues as Barry Arnold and Frank Cowell and the resulting book deserves its place on the bookshelf of serious mathematical economists everywhere.

Poverty and inequality remain at the top of the global economic agenda, and the methodology of measuring poverty continues to be a key area of research. This new book, from a leading international group of scholars, offers an up to date and innovative survey of new methods for estimating poverty at the local level, as well as the most recent multidimensional methods of the dynamics of poverty. It is argued here that measures of poverty and inequality are most useful to policy-makers and researchers when they are finely disaggregated into small geographic units. Poverty and Social Exclusion: New Methods of Analysis is the first attempt to compile the most recent research results on local estimates of multidimensional deprivation. The methods offered here take both traditional and multidimensional approaches, with a focus on using the methodology for the construction of time-related measures of deprivation at the individual and aggregated levels. In analysis of persistence over time, the book also explores whether the level of deprivation is defined in terms of relative inequality in society, or in relation to some supposedly absolute standard. This book is of particular importance as the continuing international economic and financial crisis has led to the impoverishment of segments of population as a result of unemployment, bankruptcy, and difficulties in obtaining credit. The volume will therefore be of interest to all those working on economic, econometric and statistical methods and empirical analyses in the areas of poverty, social exclusion and income inequality.

Recent theoretical and empirical studies have concluded that in order to be accurate, poverty and deprivation must be measured within a multidimensional framework that is consistent, efficient, and statistically robust.

The fuzzy sets approach to poverty measurement was developed in the early 1990s and continues to be refined by scholars of economics and sociology who find the traditional "monetary-only" indicators to be inadequate and arbitrary.

This volume brings together advanced thinking on the multidimensional measurement of poverty, including the theoretical background, applications to cross-sections using contemporary European examples, and longitudinal aspects of multidimensional fuzzy poverty analysis that pay particular attention to the transitory, or impermanent, conditions that often occur during transitions to market economies.

This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers and will be a useful text on poverty for advanced students in applied statistics, urban planning, economics, and sociology.

Achille Lemmi is Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Siena. His areas of interest and research include personal income distribution models, poverty and living conditions estimation and analysis, and poverty dynamics.

Gianni Betti is Associate Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Siena. His areas of interest and research include poverty and living conditions analysis, equivalence scales, small area estimation and poverty mapping.