In Breadline Europe: The measurement of poverty (Gordon and Townsend, 2000), we argued that the measurement and analysis of poverty could not be separated from the construction, or indeed the historical and contemporary responsibilities, of policies. They are driving causes of the human conditions and experiences making up ‘poverty’. Yet poverty-diminishing or poverty-promoting policies are not generally identified as such, and their effects not precisely quantified. There is not much ‘literature of inquiry’ to trace the contribution of different policies to the overall extent of national and international, still less local, poverty. A growing awareness of this yawning gap in human knowledge led to the design of this book. Of course a single inquiry like ours cannot provide all the answers. Indeed, it cannot hope to provide much more than preliminary answers to questions about the distribution of poverty across the world and the trends taking place. Rather, this book can only represent a beginning – a point of departure – for resolute and determined programmes of research and analysis in many countries.

Our aim was to bring together research scientists and a range of information from across the world. In doing this we found that institutions had to be understood, and investigated, as agents directing and sponsoring policies that contributed to the changing extent and depth of poverty among people. These institutions include governments, but also other institutions. Many readers will no doubt be familiar with particular policies of particular governments that claim to reduce poverty. These include policies to improve or target benefits for poor people – such as allowances for children in families with low incomes, or new basic pensions for categories of the elderly population. Policies to get more people back into work, so that they can support themselves rather than become dependent on state benefits, provide another example. Inquiry can be made into the effects of such policies, whether intended or unintended. However, there are other state policies, for example those concerning tax (and especially those that concern tax indirectly) where the effects on poverty are neither clarified nor even appreciated as being relevant.