Multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis is evolving rapidly. Notably, it has informed the publication of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) estimates in the Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme since 2010, and the release of national poverty measures in Mexico, Colombia, Bhutan, the Philippines and Chile. The academic response has been similarly swift, with related articles published in both theoretical and applied
journals. The high and insistent demand for in-depth and precise accounts of multidimensional poverty measurement motivates this book, which is aimed at graduate students in
quantitative social sciences, researchers of poverty measurement, and technical staff in governments and international agencies who create multidimensional poverty measures. The book is organized into four elements. The first introduces the framework for multidimensional measurement and provides a lucid overview of a range of multidimensional techniques and the problems each can address. The second part gives a synthetic introduction of 'counting' approaches to
multidimensional poverty measurement and provides an in-depth account of the counting multidimensional poverty measurement methodology developed by Alkire and Foster, which is a straightforward extension of the
well-known Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty measures that had a significant and lasting impact on income poverty measurement. The final two parts deal with the pre-estimation issues such as normative choices and distinctive empirical techniques used in measure design, and the post-estimation issues such as robustness tests, statistical inferences, comparisons over time, and assessments of inequality among the poor.
Multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis is evolving rapidly. Notably, it has informed the publication of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) estimates in the Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme since 2010, and the release of national poverty measures in Mexico, Colombia, Bhutan, the Philippines and Chile. The academic response has been similarly swift, with related articles published in both theoretical and applied
journals. The high and insistent demand for in-depth and precise accounts of multidimensional poverty measurement motivates this book, which is aimed at graduate students in
quantitative social sciences, researchers of poverty measurement, and technical staff in governments and international agencies who create multidimensional poverty measures. The book is organized into four elements. The first introduces the framework for multidimensional measurement and provides a lucid overview of a range of multidimensional techniques and the problems each can address. The second part gives a synthetic introduction of 'counting' approaches to
multidimensional poverty measurement and provides an in-depth account of the counting multidimensional poverty measurement methodology developed by Alkire and Foster, which is a straightforward extension of the
well-known Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty measures that had a significant and lasting impact on income poverty measurement. The final two parts deal with the pre-estimation issues such as normative choices and distinctive empirical techniques used in measure design, and the post-estimation issues such as robustness tests, statistical inferences, comparisons over time, and assessments of inequality among the poor.
1: Introduction
2: The Framework
3: Overview of Methods for Multidimensional Poverty Assessment
4: Counting Approaches: Definitions, Origins, and
Implementations
5: The Alkire-Foster Counting Methodology
6: Normative Choices in Measurement Design
7: Data and Analysis
8: Robustness Analysis and Statistical Inference
9: Distribution and Dynamics
10: Some Regression Models for AF Measures
Sabina Alkire directs the Oxford Poverty and Human Development
Initiative (OPHI), a research centre within the Department of
International Development at the University of Oxford. Her research
and publications address conceptual work related to the capability
approach and human development, the methodologies and applications
of multidimensional poverty measurement, and the measurement of
well-being, gross-national-happiness, and agency/empowerment. She
holds a
DPhil in economics from the University of Oxford.
James E. Foster is Professor of Economics and International Affairs
at the George Washington University, and Director of the Institute
for International Economic Policy in the Elliott School of
International Affairs. He earned his PhD in economics from Cornell
University, where he received the Selma Fine Goldsmith dissertation
award. He is Research Associate at the OPHI and a member of the
Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group in the Becker
Friedman Institute for Research in
Economics at the University of Chicago. In 2012 he was elected
Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Professor Foster's
research focuses on welfare economics - using economic tools to
evaluate and
enhance the wellbeing of people. His joint 1984 Econometrica paper
is one of the most cited papers on poverty. It introduced the FGT
Index, which has been used in thousands of studies and was the
basis for targeting the Progresa program in Mexico. Suman Seth is a
research officer with OHPI. He obtained a PhD in Economics from
Vanderbilt University. He has previously served as a consultant to
the Regional Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean of UNDP, the
World Bank, and the Asian
Development Bank. He has been closely involved with the team that
developed the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). His primary
interest lies in the area of development economics with special
emphasis on
measurement methodologies and policy-oriented applications of
multidimensional welfare and poverty measures.
María Emma Santos is an Assistant Professor at Departamento de
Economía, Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS) and a Research Fellow
at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
(CONICET-IIESS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina. She is also a research
associate at OPHI. She did her first degree in Economics at UNS
(2002), her MA in Economic Development at Vanderbilt University
(2005) and her Doctorate in Economics at UNS (2008). She spent two
years
(2008-2010) as a post-doc Research Officer at OPHI. Her main
research interests are the measurement, determinants and analysis
of multidimensional and chronic poverty, income inequality, and the
quality of education.
José Manuel is Head of Research at Save the Children UK. He holds a
DPhil from the University of Sussex and has over 20 years of
research and consultancy experience in international development,
poverty analysis, social inequality, human development, and the
capability approach. He is also research associate at OPHI and is
Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College. He is also Education
Officer and Member of the Executive council (elected 2012-2015) of
the Human Development and
Capability Association (HDCA), coordinator of the Quantitative
Research Thematic Group at the HDCA (since 2009) and research
fellow at the Social Science Research Centre (CISOR) in Venezuela.
He was awarded the 2007
Wiebke Kuklys Prize, and is a Chevening Alumni.
Paola Ballon is a Research Officer at the Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative of the University of Oxford, U.K and Senior
Researcher for the Partnership of Economic Policy. She holds a Ph.D
in Econometrics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her
expertise is on multidimensional poverty measurement and the
econometric analysis of poverty. Her research interests comprise
structural equation models for human development and well-being,
and applied micro-econometrics to
development economics. She has been a researcher at the World Bank,
UNICEF, the International Labour Office, the United Nations
University (UNU-WIDER), and the United Nations Research Institute
for Social
Development. She is Associate Editor for Oxford Development
Studies, and former member of the Editorial Board of the Review of
Income and Wealth.
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