This course introduces students to economic theories of poverty, ways to measure it (and the problems associated with these measures), and a description of the success and failures of public policies designed to curtail it. It features a blending of economic reasoning from theoretical and empirical perspectives, which will become part of the students' toolkits in their further endeavors, and a critical comparison of the economics approach and Catholic social teaching. The students will come out of the course becoming critical and intelligent participants in public policy debates and learn to form their own policy recommendations based on their analysis.