As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty
The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty, ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Poverty Briefing, 3, Feb 1999
International attention is focused more sharply on poverty reduction than for 20 years. The international target proposed by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECDOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has been widely adopted, namely to reduce by half by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. But quite what this target might mean is obscured by the bewildering ambiguity with which the term ‘poverty’ is used, and by the many different indicators proposed to monitor poverty. Income poverty or human development? Sustainable livelihood or social inclusion? Current consumption or future security? Different concepts imply different interventions................. (see link in title for full article)