Perspectives on Poverty in Europe. Following in Tony Atkinson’s Footsteps

Abstract

I address four topics: how our capacities to monitor poverty in Europe have improved substantially over recent decades; how progress on EU poverty reduction has been disappointing and why this has been; conceptual and measurement issues; and the future direction of EU-level anti-poverty actions. I follow in the footsteps of a giant—my perspectives are essentially elaborations of points made by Tony Atkinson.