These questions are important but unfortunately can be answered only indicatively. The conclusion of a very different literature (Barr 1999; Sen 1999) is that it is not possible to quantify a value-free definition of poverty. Instead, the decision about where to pitch the poverty line depends on social choice constrained by fiscal realities. Analogously, problems—of concept and of measurement—mean that the benefits to education cannot be quantified in any definitive way.