Notes 25 June 2000 after seeing World Bank research paper's policy conclusions by looking at the "income" of the "poorest fifth" in different countries


...If exchange rates are not involved (i.e. it’s not a dollar measure) then how is the purchasing power of the poor’s money assessed?

Under this way of measuring income, what happens if a) a lot of people die off...

b) people lose or gain land...

An increase in the amount of money going round the system may reflect an increase in landlessness.

...If exchange rates are not involved (i.e. it’s not a dollar measure) then how is the purchasing power of the poor’s money assessed?