22
Nov
2017
Creating academic and real world value added: Measuring poverty and the effect of social transfers on poverty with a material deprivation concept.
with Geranda Notten (Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa)
09:30 am
12:30 pm
For inquiries:
trainings@liser.lu

Abstract

This training looks at a research project from two angles: one in which the goal is to solve an academic question and the other in which the goal is to convince persons and organizations in the real world that your solution can contribute to solving a real world problem. In the first part I show how the concept poverty can be operationalized using non-monetary information on people's material well-being, also contrasting it to its popular counterpart the income approach. This is followed by a review of ongoing research efforts to develop a methodology to estimate the effect of policy on material deprivation. Illustrations come from Canadian and European data. I will cover poverty theory, indicator construction and some 'exotic' regression techniques suited for handling count data. In the second part we will have a dialogue about what you can(not) do to create real world change with the findings of your academic research and, not unimportant, how you can communicate such efforts to colleagues, deans, tenure and promotion committees, grant agencies etc. We will discuss questions such as what is evidence-based policy, what is the evidence on evidence-based policy, how does the world of decision-makers look like, how can you bring your evidence to the attention of decision-makers and how can you communicate your efforts to others. I will illustrate my (still very much maturing) thoughts and experiences but I am equally keen to hear from everyone else in the room.