Official poverty lines in Turkey and other countries ignore the fact that unpaid household
production activities that contribute to the fulfillment of material needs and wants are essential
for the household to reproduce itself as a unit. This omission has consequences. Taking
household production for granted when we measure poverty yields an unacceptably incomplete
picture and therefore estimates based on such an omission provide inadequate guidance to
policymakers.
Standard measurements of poverty assume that all households and individuals have
enough time to adequately attend to the needs of household members—including, for example,
children. These tasks are absolutely necessary for attaining a minimum standard of living. But
this assumption is false. For numerous reasons, some households may not have sufficient time,
and they thus experience what are referred to as “time deficits.” If a household officially
classified as nonpoor has a time deficit and cannot afford to cover it by buying market substitutes
(e.g., hire a care provider), that household will encounter hardships not reflected in the official
poverty measure. To get a more accurate calculus of poverty, we have developed the Levy
Institute Measure of Time and Consumption Poverty (LIMTCP), a two-dimensional measure that
takes into account both the necessary consumption expenditures and household production time
needed to achieve a minimum living standard.