Model for measuring levels of poverty in Argentina

Abstract

Poverty, like many other economic and social concepts, is a complex phenomenon to define. In general, it is associated to the lack of resources to meet the needs of a population or group of reference, without having the ability and opportunity to produce these resources. As it is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, there are many definitions and ways of measuring it. The tools provided by the theory of fuzzy sets, let you capture the grays present in the standard of living of the population, nuances that occur not only phenomena of subjective nature, but also by situational phenomena and cyclical. In this paper a model to classify households according to the membership degrees to all indigent and poor households is presented. Levels of poverty and indigence are determined taking into account household income and the appreciation of the Basic Food Basket and Cutting Edge Total.