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The Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty

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  • François Bourguignon
  • Satya Chakravarty

Abstract

Many authors have insisted on the necessity of defining poverty as a multi-dimensional concept rather than relying on income or consumption expenditures per capita. Yet, not much has actually been done to include the various dimensions of deprivation into the practical definition and measurement of poverty. Existing attempts along that direction consist of aggregating various attributes into a single index through some arbitrary function and defining a poverty line and associated poverty measures on the basis of that index. All this is merely redefining the more general concept of poverty, which then essentially remains a uni-dimensional concept. On the contrary, the present paper suggests that the only way to truly take into account the multi-dimensionality of poverty is to specify a poverty line for each dimension of poverty and to consider that a person is poor if he/she falls below at least one of these various lines. The paper then explores ways to combine these various poverty lines and associated one-dimensional gaps into multi-dimensional poverty measures to be evaluated on samples of individuals or households.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1023913831342
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal The Journal of Economic Inequality.

Volume (Year): 1 (2003)
Issue (Month): 1 (April)
Pages: 25-49

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Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:1:y:2003:i:1:p:25-49

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Web page: http://springerlink.metapress.com/link.asp?id=111137

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Keywords: multidimensional; poverty measure;

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References

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  1. Foster, James E & Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1991. "Subgroup Consistent Poverty Indices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 687-709, May.
  2. Bourguignon, F. & Fields, G., 1995. "Discontinuous Losses from Poverty, Generalized P& Measures and Optimal Transfers to the Poor," DELTA Working Papers 95-06, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
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  8. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Sahn, David & Younger, Stephen D., 2001. "Robust Multidimensional Poverty Comparisons," Cahiers de recherche 0115, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
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  12. Atkinson, Anthony B & Bourguignon, Francois, 1982. "The Comparison of Multi-Dimensioned Distributions of Economic Status," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 183-201, April.
  13. Maasoumi, Esfandiar, 1986. "The Measurement and Decomposition of Multi-dimensional Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(4), pages 991-97, July.
  14. Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A, 1986. "Properties of Fixed-Population Poverty Indices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(3), pages 667-88, October.
  15. Blakorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1980. "Ethical Indices for the Measurement of Poverty," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 1053-60, May.
  16. Menno Pradhan & Martin Ravallion, 2000. "Measuring Poverty Using Qualitative Perceptions Of Consumption Adequacy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 462-471, August.
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