Perhaps a redefinition of what constitutes poverty makes sense; but I think anyone engaging in this needs to take into account the fact that relative poverty can have equally damaging effects as absolute poverty.
It turns out that African American living in the US have a lower life expectancy than the more "absolutely" poor lower class in India. (See Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom).
Su Dongpo
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"think anyone engaging in this needs to take into account the fact that relative poverty can have equally damaging effects as absolute poverty."
I think "equally damaging" is going a bit far. Relative poverty is a different problem than absolute poverty. It is damaging but in different ways.
For example, a relatively poor person in a developed country may smoke non-stop and die at 40 of lung cancer. An absolutely poor person in a developing country may live a frugal life as healthy as possible and die at 40 of ill-health from the water and food supply. It's hard for me to accept that the first situation is just as bad as the second.
They are different problems with different solutions. And sometimes one must be prioritized over the other.
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