This article presents the author's rejoinder on commentaries of his article which illustrate the variety of perspectives with which people approach poverty measurement issues. Some of the comments highlight the theoretical concerns underpinning poverty measurement efforts, whereas others focus on empirical considerations. As a social scientist,…

This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of different types of income poverty measures--absolute, relative, and a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "quasi-relative" one--and empirically assesses them by tracking their performance over time and across demographic groups. Part of the assessment involves comparing these measures to…