2024 (LIS)2ER workshop: “Fighting poverty: Measurement and policy challenges”

Description

Poverty remains a critical issue worldwide, profoundly impacting not only low- and middle-income countries but also high-income ones. Addressing poverty is a top priority in global and national agendas. At the global level, the United Nations has underscored the urgency of eradicating poverty through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Goal 1 calling for an end to poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030.

The European Union has embedded poverty reduction within its strategic frameworks, particularly through the adoption in 2022 of a headline target to be reached by 2030: a reduction of the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million, including at least 5 million children, compared to 2019.

In Luxembourg, combating poverty is a central pillar of the current government’s programme. This commitment includes measures to support low-income households, improve access to affordable housing, and ensure equitable access to quality education and healthcare, targeting vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and migrants.

Poverty is multifaceted, requiring integrated solutions that combine economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Understanding what works in reducing poverty through sound policy evaluation is crucial for developing effective interventions. In this context, the 2024 LIS^2ER workshop on policies to fight inequality—organised annually by the LIS Cross-national Data Center and LISER—aims to provide a forum to discuss novel research on poverty measurement and policies to fight poverty.

From 11 to 13 December, LIS Cross-National Data Center hosted the (LIS)2ER Workshop 2024: “Fighting poverty: measurement and policy challenges” jointly with the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) to commemorate the five years of the (LIS)2ER Initiative. The workshop brought together inequality scholars and policy experts from around the world to delve into the role of policy evaluation to tackle poverty and economic inequality in both developed and low/middle-income countries.

The three-day workshop commenced with the presentation by Christoph Lakner of the World Bank’s flagship report Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet: Pathways out of the Polycrisis, at Abbaye de Neumünster, which provided a global perspective on tackling poverty amidst interconnected crises of poverty and climate change. It was followed by another presentation on the evolution of poverty in Luxembourg over the past 40 years by Philippe Van Kerm, the Research Director of LIS. Over the next two days in Belval, the workshop featured 12 academic presentations addressing a varieties of relevant topics, including poverty estimation methods, child poverty, inequality and populism, the evaluation of cash and in-kind transfers, and the role of minimum income schemes.

The workshop was concluded with a policy roundtable discussion titled “Bridging Evidence and Action: How to Evaluate What Works in the Fight Against Poverty?”. Experts including academics and policymakers as well as those from international organizations discussed the role of rigorous policy evaluation, in particular innovative methodologies, robust data, and the exchange of insights across various country contexts. The workshop overall highlighted insights from mutual learning and the critical role of evidence-based interventions in making effective policies.

Programme

The full program is available here.

Available presentations

Please find below the list of available presentations of the workshop sessions:

Organizing Committee

More information on the previous workshops carried out through the (LIS)2ER initiative:

Learn more about the (LIS)2ER initiative from here.