This Slate.com article has a nice history of the concept of the “poverty line” and references a new unofficial poverty line proposed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which set the standard “by focus groups working out what was and was not necessary ‘to participate in society.’ The results are frugal—there is a budget of £40 ($80) every two years to buy a suit, for instance—but they were always bound to be controversial. The list of essentials includes a self-catering vacation, a cell phone, and enough booze to get drunk twice a month.”
Here’s the link:
“But My Neighbor Has a Cell Phone …Finally, a sensible way to measure poverty.” by Time Harford
http://www.slate.com/id/2195897/
