OXFORD ECONOMISTS DRAW UP SYSTEM TO REVEAL MORE DETAILED PICTURE OF POVERTY

如何衡量贫困？

OXFORD ECONOMISTS DRAW UP SYSTEM TO REVEAL MORE DETAILED PICTURE OF POVERTY

作者：英国《金融时报》 裘德•韦伯 布宜诺斯艾利斯报道

Economists have quarrelled for centuries about the true definition of wealth. Perhaps a more pertinent question, in these globally troubled times as more people risk sliding into poverty, is the one they are asking now: what is the best measure of poverty?	数百年来，经济学家一直在为财富的确切定义争论不休。当全球都陷入困境时，可能会有更 多人滑向贫困的深渊，因此在这种时期，或许更加攸关的一个问题正是经济学家现在提出的那个问题：什么才是衡量贫困的最佳标准？
It used to be simple: you were poor if you did not have enough money to live on. The World Bank, which has been tracking poverty by income since 1990 in its World Development Report, reckons a quarter of the developing world scrapes by on $1.25 a day or less.	这个问题曾经很简单：如果你的收入不足以糊口，你就是穷人。1990年以来，世界银行 (World Bank)在《世界发展报告》中一直通过收入来跟踪贫困水平。该行估算，发展中国家有四分之一的人口仅能依靠每天1.25美元或更低的收入勉强糊口。
Yet economists have long agreed that income alone tells only part of the story.	不过，经济学家早就达成共识，收入只是故事的一个方面。
Instead, measuring things people lack – such as access to education or healthcare – provides insight into chronic poverty down to the household level and “illuminates peoples' lives for policymakers” according to Sabina Alkire, director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, a research centre at Oxford University.	相反，研究机构牛津大学贫困与人类发展中心(OPHI)主任萨比娜•阿尔凯尔 (Sabina Alkire)认为，通过衡量人们所缺少的东西——例如教育资源或医疗服务——能够从家庭层面透析长期贫困，并“向政策制定者阐明人民的生活状态”。
With fellow economist James Foster, she has devised an approach that is being launched this month and used in the UN Development Programme's annual Human Development Report in October. The method draws on data from household surveys by national statistics offices to give a detailed insight into what it means to be poor.	阿尔凯尔和经济学家同事詹姆斯•福斯特(James Foster)共同设计的测量方法将于本月发表，并在联合国开发计划署(UNDP) 10月份发布的年度《人类发展报告》(Human Development Report)中采用。这种方法利用各国国家统计机构采集的家庭调查数据，以期对贫困的意义进行深入洞察。
“It's not as if income measures do not have validity but this gives a much more fine-grained picture,” says Bill Orme of the UNDP's Human Development Report Office.	“这并不是说用收入衡量法不正确，不过用这种方法呈现出的画面要精细很多，”联合国开 发计划署《人类发展报告》办公室的比尔•奥姆(Bill Orme)表示。
The approach goes deeper than other aggregate measures such as the unsatisfied basic needs index, developed by the UN in Latin America, because it reveals not only what proportion of the population is poor, but also the extent of their poverty, adds Ms Alkire.	阿尔凯尔补充道，与其它整体衡量指标相比（例如联合国在拉丁美洲开发的未满足基本需求 指数），这种方法更加深入，因为它不仅揭示了贫困人口所占的比例，还反映了他们的贫困程度。
“This is important because in countries with high inequality there may be high average welfare or a high human development index because of incredible wealth among an elite, masking the fact that a lot of people are poor – for example, oil-rich states,” she says.	“这一点很重要，因为在贫富差距很大的国家，由于精英群体拥有的财富数量惊人，因此平 均福利或人类发展指数可能会很高，由此掩盖了贫困人口为数众多的事实——富油国家就是例子，”她表示。
An OPHI study of India illustrates how income measures can mislead: despite strong economic growth and falling income poverty rates, it found 46 per cent of children under three were malnourished in 2005-06, compared with 47 per cent in 1998-99.	OPHI对印度的一项研究表明，收入衡量法会让判断出现多么严重的偏差：尽管印度经济 增长强劲，以收入衡量的贫困率不断下降，但OPHI发现，2005-06年，印度3岁以下儿童有46%营养不良，仅略低于1998-99年的47%。
UNDP, through its human development reports, has for 20 years been tracking an average of indicators of health, education and living standards. This year's report will use the Alkire-Foster approach to complement its own Human Development Index.	20年来，联合国开发计划署一直在通过《人类发展报告》跟踪健康、教育和生活水平等指 标的平均水平。今年的报告还将采用阿尔凯尔-福斯特方法，作为其人类发展指数的补充。
Although the report does not set UN policy, Mr Orme said its authors considered the approach “extraordinarily valuable . . . We hope that it is used by national governments and UN agencies and others”.	尽管该报告不决定联合国的政策，但奥姆表示，报告的撰写者认为，这种方法“极具价 值……我们希望各国政府、联合国机构及其它组织都能采用”。
In Mexico, elements of the Alkire-Foster method have been incorporated, along with others, into a poverty index introduced last December. In Bhutan, OPHI's approach is used to generate the country's Gross National Happiness Index, which helps to steer government policy.	墨西哥也将阿尔凯尔-福斯特方法的部分要素纳入了去年12月推出的一个贫困指数。不丹 在生成国民幸福总值指数(Gross National Happiness Index)时也采用了OPHI的方法，给政府政策走向提供参考。
Several countries in Latin America, where the UN thinks one in three people is poor and the rate of poverty reduction is slowing, are looking at it with interest. Ms Alkire says her method can highlight what drives poverty among different groups, such as a lack of education in rural areas or health in cities, and can aid corporate social responsibility programmes by giving them a way to track their effect.	拉丁美洲的几个国家也饶有兴趣地关注着这种测量方法。根据联合国的数据，这几个地区的 贫困人口比例达三分之一，而且减贫速度正在放缓。阿尔凯尔表示，她的测量方法能够突显出不同群体贫困的原因所在，例如农村地区的教育缺失，城市的医疗不完 善等等，因此能为企业社会责任项目提供帮助，为他们提供一种跟踪项目效用的方法。
“Per capita income doesn't help us,” says Andrés Peñate Giraldo, vice-president for corporate affairs for Latin America at brewer SABMiller. His company's social responsibility programmes are focused on helping foster entrepreneurism and autonomy among poor people, and a more rounded picture of poverty in communities “interests us and would help”, he says.	“人均收入对我们来说没有用，”SABMiller拉丁美洲企业事务副总裁安德烈斯• 佩纳亚特•希拉尔多(Andrés Peñate Giraldo)表示。该公司的社会责任项目注重帮助贫困人群培养企业家精神和独立性，因此“我们有兴趣”更全面地了解各群体的贫困状况，“这也能对我们 有所帮助”，他表示。
In Mexico, the Alkire- Foster approach has shown that poverty among indigenous groups is almost four times the national average.	在墨西哥，阿尔凯尔-福斯特方法显示，土著居民的贫困比例几乎是全国平均水平的4倍。
Gonzalo Hernández Licona, executive secretary of Mexico's National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, likened the index to a doctor using a battery of tests rather than basing a diagnosis just on blood pressure. “There are many combinations of criteria – some people say it's confusing. But I think the benefit of richer information to be able to tailor policies makes up for that.”	墨西哥国家社会发展政策评估委员会(National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy)执行秘书长贡萨洛•埃尔南德斯•利科纳(Gonzalo Hernández Licona)称，该指数就好比医生依据一系列检查结果做出诊断，而不是仅仅靠测量血压。“这种方法将各种评判标准综合起来——有些人说它太复杂。但我认 为更充分的信息有助于我们对政策进行量体裁衣，而这足以弥补复杂性的问题。”
	译者/管婧