ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents the research results from different studies on poverty, both in Germany and abroad. He illustrates the additional findings that can be obtained by combining both the economie resource and standard-of-living approaches. Direct poverty indicators look at individuate actual standards of living; indirect indicators, meanwhile, look at the resources available to these individuate. Given the criticai objections concerning the economie resource approach, the question arises as to the possibilities provided by direct poverty indicators. Empirical analyses in western industrialized societies apply a variety of indicators to define persons affected by poverty. Income-based poverty can - at least theoretically - be combated with income transfers. Income-based poverty is not always accompanied by deprivation-based poverty especially because the actual household income measures only a proportion of disposable economie resources. In contrast to the economie resource approach, these study the outcomes of the behaviour of individuate based on how they utilize the resources available to them.
