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Assessing individuals' deprivation in a multidimensional framework

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  • Permanyer, Iñaki

Abstract

In the context of multidimensional poverty measurement, it seems plausible to assume that when individuals are deprived in some dimensions and non-deprived in the remaining ones, the latter can be allowed to play a non-trivial role in the assessment of those individuals' poverty levels. Yet, this simple and attractive property is violated by virtually all multidimensional poverty indices proposed in the literature so far because they stick to the so-called ‘Strong Focus’ axiom. This paper characterizes a class of multidimensional poverty indices that allows for certain trade-offs between deprived and non-deprived attributes when measuring individuals' deprivation. The empirical results based on ‘Demographic and Health Surveys’ from 54 countries suggest that our assessments of multidimensional poverty can differ dramatically when the overly restrictive Strong Focus is abandoned in favor of weaker versions of the axiom.

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  • Permanyer, Iñaki, 2014. "Assessing individuals' deprivation in a multidimensional framework," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:109:y:2014:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.03.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Veronika Bertram-Hümmer & Ghassan Baliki, 2015. "The Role of Visible Wealth for Deprivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 765-783, December.
    2. Higgins, Sean & Lustig, Nora, 2016. "Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-75.
    3. Lucio Esposito & Enrica Chiappero‐Martinetti, 2019. "Eliciting, Applying And Exploring Multidimensional Welfare Weights: Evidence From The Field," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(S1), pages 204-227, November.
    4. Shatakshee Dhongde & Prasanta K. Pattanaik & Yongsheng Xu, 2019. "Well‐Being, Deprivation, and the Great Recession in the U.S.: A Study in A Multidimensional Framework," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(S1), pages 281-306, November.
    5. Iñaki Permanyer, 2016. "Book review of Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(3), pages 353-356, September.
    6. Paola Ballón & John Cockburn & Sylvain Dessy & Setou Diarra, 2018. "Child Monetary Poverty and Multidimensional Deprivations: Why They Differ," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(4), pages 483-512.
    7. Francisco Azpitarte & Jose Gallegos & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2020. "On the robustness of multidimensional counting poverty orderings," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(3), pages 339-364, September.
    8. María-del-Carmen Sánchez-Antón & Rosa Badillo-Amador & María-del-Carmen Marco-Gil & Juan-Vicente LLinares-Ciscar & Susana Álvarez-Díez & Juan-Francisco Sánchez-García, 2022. "Analysis of the Educational Poverty in Spain by Subjects, Regions and Gender," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 829-861, July.
    9. Shatakshee Dhongde & Yi Li & Prasanta K. Pattanaik & Yongsheng Xu, 2016. "Binary data, hierarchy of attributes, and multidimensional deprivation," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(4), pages 363-378, December.
    10. Sean Higgins & Nora Lustig, 2015. "Can Poverty-Reducing and Progressive Tax and Transfer System Hurt the Poor?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 1333, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    11. Juan-Francisco Sánchez-García & María-del-Carmen Sánchez-Antón & Rosa Badillo-Amador & María-del-Carmen Marco-Gil & Juan-Vicente LLinares-Ciscar & Susana Álvarez-Díez, 2019. "A New Extension of Bourguignon and Chakravarty Index to Measure Educational Poverty and Its Application to the OECD Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 479-501, September.
    12. Iñaki Permanyer, 2019. "Measuring poverty in multidimensional contexts," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 53(4), pages 677-708, December.
    13. Iñaki Permanyer & M. Azhar Hussain, 2018. "First Order Dominance Techniques and Multidimensional Poverty Indices: An Empirical Comparison of Different Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 867-893, June.
    14. Iñaki Permanyer, 2016. "Book review of Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(3), pages 353-356, September.
    15. Alejandro Donado, 2021. "Why do they JUST DO IT? A Theory of Outsourcing and Working Conditions," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 559-586, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multidimensional poverty measurement; Axiomatization; Focus axiom; Sensitivity analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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