The Poverty Line: Regional Dimensions of the Absolute Poverty Definition
The purpose of this project, which involves the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Economics, the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, is to determine the absolute poverty line within the Czech Republic. Furthermore, the project aims to identify the key factors that increase the risk of poverty and the population groups most at risk. The project was supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.
While the commonly used approach for defining poverty is based on income inequality measurements (relative poverty), our project focuses on identifying the needs of life and the financial resources required to meet them, i.e. the definition of absolute poverty. We will identify what types of material and social goods are considered necessary by society and to what extent they should be available to everyone. In doing so, we will attempt to intersect the views of the public (secondary analysis of available data and a self-administered questionnaire survey), experts (ongoing expert panel discussion) and affected groups (qualitative research based on individual interviews, ethnographic research, group interviews). Specific attention will be paid to the regional dimension of poverty and the cost of living.
The resulting certified methodology will propose a way of calculating standard household budgets based on these outputs. It will then be made available to the public administration (the Agency for Social Inclusion is the project’s application guarantor) and the general professional public.
