The paper discusses the use of material deprivation measures for an analysis of poverty in OECD countries. Its main goal is to identify suitable survey questions that might be used in comparative analysis, as a first step towards the construction of more satisfactory poverty measures. The paper...

This paper assesses if GDP per capita is an adequate proxy as a measure of wellbeing or whether other indicators are more suitable for this purpose. Within the national accounts framework, other better measures of economic resources exist, but they are closely correlated with GDP per capita and...

The OECD regularly produces estimates of tax burdens and benefit entitlements for a range of “typical household” situations. The results of these calculations (published in the Benefits and Wages and Taxing Wages series) are frequently used to compare countries’ tax-benefit systems and to...

This report provides evidence on income distribution and poverty in 27 OECD countries over the second half of the 1990s, using data that correct for many of the features that limit cross-country and intertemporal comparisons in this field. Patterns for income distribution and relative poverty in...

This report looks at the effects on the distribution of household income of those government-provided services that confer a personal benefit to users. While most of the comparative evidence of the size and evolution of income inequalities in OECD countries relies on the concept of household...

This working paper presents evidence on changes in income distribution and poverty in thirteen OECD countries over the two decades up to the first half of the 1990s. While country experience has been variable, income and poverty rose in most countries. Both earnings and capital and self...

Three main elements characterise the notion of sustainable development: first, a broad view of human well-being, in which environmental and social elements are important as well as economic ones; second, the view that many of the effects of today's decisions will last over time, thereby...