Monetary poverty indicators at local level: evaluating the impact of different poverty thresholds

The importance of poverty measures at sub-national level is widely attested, both for a detailed planning of policy actions, and for the citizens to evaluate their effects.
However, there are relevant issues when computing sub-national poverty indicators that may impact their value: the definition of the poverty line for monetary poverty indicators, and the use of small area estimation methods when the sample size is not enough to obtain accurate estimates at local level. In this work, we estimate the poverty incidence at provincial level in Italy by using small area estimation methods, and we analyze the impact on the poverty incidence of different poverty lines, defined at national, regional and provincial level. The key results underline a strong impact on the poverty incidence when using sub-national poverty lines.