MEASURING POVERTY AND DIFFERENCES IN FAMILY COMPOSITION

The equivalence scales used to adjust for differences in family composition when measuring poverty exhibit considerable variation. This paper suggests an alternative approach which allows for differences in social judgements regarding the treatment of different types of family and examines the relation with the choice of poverty measure. The resulting dominance criteria cannot provide a complete ranking but allow the extent of disagreement to be identified. Their application is illustrated by the example of changes in child benefits.