A fundamental difficulty for multidimentional poverty analysis is the identification of the poor. This paper proposes two multidimensional poverty indices: the intensive and extensive poverty, which correspond respectively to the most exclusive and inclusive definition of poverty defined according to multiple attributes. Bounds on the intensive and extensive poverty are provided. Drawing analog...

After a slow start in the 1980’s and 1990’s empirical applications of the capability approach have gained significant momentum in recent years, thanks in large part to technical and methodological advances in the multidimensional measurement of poverty (Alkire & Foster, 2011; Bourguignon & Chakravarty, 1999; Duclos, Shan, & Younger, 2006). As we progress in this direction, we come across an inc...

Poverty may be defined narrowly as a lack of income, but is more usefully viewed as a multidimensional concept. I discuss some associations between poverty and health, identify groups with special needs, and describe some aspects of the government's health policy which are relevant to those needs. Finally, I note the importance of ensuring there is a more integrated approach in future.

Multidimensional Poverty Analysis: Looking for a Middle Ground * Widespread agreement that poverty is a multifaceted phenomenon, encompassing deprivations along multiple dimensions, clashes with often vociferous disagreement about how best to measure these deprivations. Drawing on the recent literature, this short note proposes three methodological alternatives to the false dichotomy between sc...

This paper presents the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a measure of acute poverty, understood as a person’s inability to meet simultaneously minimum international standards in indicators related to the Millennium Development Goals and to core functionings. It constitutes the first implementation of the direct method to measure poverty for over 100 developing countries. After presenting t...

We’ve been asked to produce a brief and informal summary of an exchange between ourselves and Martin Ravallion, who is currently Acting Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. All of us agree, as Ravallion pointed out, that poverty is multidimensional. Our exchange concerned whether our group’s efforts to incorporate multiple dimensions into the very definition of who is po...

This paper examines multidimensional poverty among forcibly displaced populations, using a gendered lens. Although past studies have explored in contexts, and others looked at the relation- ship between gender, none has brought together these three issues—multidimensional poverty, persons, gender. A tailored measure of is developed applied for refugees internally populations five Sub-Saharan Af...

In this handout we review results concerning representation of partial orders via stochastic orders and investigate their applications to some classes of stochastic dominance conditions applied in inequality, poverty and welfare measurement. The results obtained in an unidimensional framework are extended to multidimensional analysis. In particular we provide an overview of the main issues conc...