IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v124y2015i3p693-726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Applying the Consensual Method of Estimating Poverty in a Low Income African Setting

Author

Listed:
  • Shailen Nandy
  • Marco Pomati

Abstract

We present the first study of multidimensional poverty in Benin using the consensual or socially perceived necessities approach. There is a remarkable level consensus about what constitutes the necessities of life and an adequate standard of living. Following Townsend’s concept of relative deprivation, we show how social consensus provides the basis for a reliable and valid index of multiple deprivation, which can be used to reflect multidimensional poverty. We discuss the issue of adaptive preferences, which has previously been used to criticise the consensual approach, and provide evidence to contest the claim that the poor adjust their aspirations downwards. Copyright The Author(s) 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Shailen Nandy & Marco Pomati, 2015. "Applying the Consensual Method of Estimating Poverty in a Low Income African Setting," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 693-726, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:124:y:2015:i:3:p:693-726
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0819-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-014-0819-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-014-0819-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oliver Mtapuri, 2011. "Developing an asset threshold using the consensual approach: Results from Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 29-41, January.
    2. Tania Burchardt, 2004. "One man's rags are another man's riches: Identifying adaptive preferences using panel data," CASE Papers 086, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    3. Xavier Sala-i-Martin & Maxim Pinkovskiy, 2010. "African Poverty is Falling...Much Faster than You Think!," NBER Working Papers 15775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Shaohua Chen & Martin Ravallion, 2010. "The Developing World is Poorer than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1577-1625.
    5. Burchardt, Tania, 2004. "One man's rags are another man's riches: identifying adaptive preferences using panel data," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6304, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Eric Crettaz & Christian Suter, 2013. "The Impact of Adaptive Preferences on Subjective Indicators: An Analysis of Poverty Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 139-152, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zenghui Huo & Mei Zhang, 2023. "Multidimensional Deprivation and Subgroup Heterogeneity of Rural Households in China: Empirical Evidence from Latent Variable Estimation Methods," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 975-997, February.
    2. Marco Pomati & Shailen Nandy, 2020. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty According to National Definitions: Operationalising Target 1.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 105-126, February.
    3. Musiwa, Anthony Shuko, 2019. "Multidimensional child poverty in Zimbabwe: Extent, risk patterns and implications for policy, practice and research," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Carla Arévalo and Jorge Paz, 2015. "Pobreza en la Argentina. Privaciones múltiples y asimetrías regionales," Working Papers 15, Instituto de Estudios Laborales y del Desarrollo Económico (IELDE) - Universidad Nacional de Salta - Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Jurídicas y Sociales.
    5. Anne-Catherine Guio & Eric Marlier & Frank Vandenbroucke & Pim Verbunt, 2022. "Differences in Child Deprivation Across Europe: The Role of In-Cash and In-Kind Transfers," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(6), pages 2363-2388, December.
    6. Anne-Catherine Guio & David Gordon & Eric Marlier & Hector Najera & Marco Pomati, 2018. "Towards an EU measure of child deprivation," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 835-860, June.
    7. Héctor E. Nájera Catalán, 2019. "Reliability, Population Classification and Weighting in Multidimensional Poverty Measurement: A Monte Carlo Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 887-910, April.
    8. Anthony Shuko Musiwa, 2020. "Extent and Depth of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Zimbabwe: a Multidimensional Deprivation Approach," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(3), pages 885-915, June.
    9. Anthony S. Musiwa, 2019. "Child Poverty and Gender and Location Disparities in Zimbabwe: A Multidimensional Deprivation Approach," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1-2), pages 99-137, July.
    10. Alba Lanau & Viliami Fifita, 2020. "Do Households Prioritise Children? Intra-Household Deprivation a Case Study of the South Pacific," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(6), pages 1953-1973, December.
    11. Maryam Abdu & Enrique Delamonica, 2018. "Multidimensional Child Poverty: From Complex Weighting to Simple Representation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 881-905, April.
    12. L'Roe, Jessica & Detoeuf, Diane & Wieland, Michelle & Ikati, Bernard & Enduyi Kimuha, Moïse & Sandrin, François & Angauko Sukari, Odette & Nzale Nkumu, Junior & Kretser, Heidi E. & Wilkie, David, 2023. "Large-scale monitoring in the DRC’s Ituri forest with a locally informed multidimensional well-being index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Geranda Notten & Julie Kaplan, 2022. "An Empirical Validation Method for Narrowing the Range of Poverty Thresholds," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 251-271, May.
    14. Héctor Nájera & David Gordon, 2023. "A Monte Carlo Study of Some Empirical Methods to Find the Optimal Poverty Line in Multidimensional Poverty Measurement," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 391-419, June.
    15. Annie Smith & Stephanie Martin & Maya Peled & Colleen Poon, 2023. "Developing an index of adolescent deprivation for use in British Columbia, Canada," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 273-291, February.
    16. Eunju Kim & Shailen Nandy, 2018. "Multidimensional Child Poverty in Korea: Developing Child-Specific Indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 1029-1050, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marco Pomati & Shailen Nandy, 2020. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty According to National Definitions: Operationalising Target 1.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 105-126, February.
    2. Tomas Hellebrandt & Paolo Mauro, 2015. "The Future of Worldwide Income Distribution," Working Paper Series WP15-7, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    3. Thomas S. Ulen, 2011. "The Uneasy Case for Competition Law and Regulation as Decisive Factors in Development: Some Lessons for China," Chapters, in: Michael Faure & Xinzhu Zhang (ed.), Competition Policy and Regulation, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Liam Delaney & Carol Newman & Brian Nolan, 2006. "Reference Dependent Financial Satisfaction over the Course of the Celtic Tiger: A Panel Analysis Utilising the Living in Ireland Survey 1994-2001," Trinity Economics Papers tep200611, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    5. David Penn, 2009. "Financial well-being in an urban area: an application of multiple imputation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(23), pages 2955-2964.
    6. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, T.S. & Chapoto, Antony & Donovan, Cynthia, 2011. "Putting the 2007/2008 global food crisis in longer-term perspective: Trends in staple food affordability in urban Zambia and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 350-367, June.
    7. Georges Vivien Houngbonon & Arthur Bauer & Abdoulaye Ndiaye & Clara Champagne & Tite Yokossi & Nathalie Ferrière & Hédi Brahimi & Jeanne Avril, 2014. "Assessing the Inclusiveness of Growth in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon, Senegal, and Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-120, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Duangkamon Chotikapanich & William E. Griffiths & Gholamreza Hajargasht & D. S. Prasada Rao & Charley Xia, 2018. "Inequality and Poverty in Africa: Comparing Panels of Income Distributions from Different Data Sources," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 2042, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Francis Teal, 2014. "Employment Creation, Poverty and the Structure of the Job Market in Nigeria," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2014-18, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Maxim L. Pinkovskiy & Xavier X. Sala-i-Martin, 2014. "Lights, camera,...income! Estimating poverty using national accounts, survey means, and lights," Staff Reports 669, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    11. Francis Teal, 2014. "Employment Creation, Poverty and the Structure of the Job Market in Nigeria," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-18, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    12. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    13. Liam Delaney & Carol Newman & Brian Nolan, 2006. "Reference Dependent Financial Satification over the Course of the Celtic Tiger : A Panel Analysis Utilising the Living in Ireland Survey 1994-2001," Working Papers 200609, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    14. AfDB AfDB, 2011. "MDG Report 2011 - Full Report," MDG Report 334, African Development Bank.
    15. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, 2013. "An African Growth Miracle? Or: What do Asset Indices Tell Us About Trends in Economic Performance?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59, pages 37-61, October.
    16. Beegle, Kathleen & De Weerdt, Joachim & Friedman, Jed & Gibson, John, 2012. "Methods of household consumption measurement through surveys: Experimental results from Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 3-18.
    17. Carol Newman & Liam Delaney & Brian Nolan, 2008. "A Dynamic Model of the Relationship Between Income and Financial Satisfaction: Evidence from Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 39(2), pages 105-130.
    18. Joseph Connors & James Gwartney & Hugo Montesinos‐Yufa, 2020. "The rise and fall of worldwide income inequality, 1820–2035," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(1), pages 216-244, July.
    19. Ademola Obafemi YOUNG, 2019. "Why Has Growth Not Trickled Down to the Poor? A Study of Nigeria," Review of European Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 156-156, December.
    20. repec:tcd:wpaper:tep11 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Houngbonon, Georges Vivien & Bauer, Arthur & Ndiaye, Abdoulaye & Champagne, Clara & Yokossi, Tite, 2014. "Assessing the inclusiveness of growth in Africa: Evidence from Cameroon, Senegal, and Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series 120, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:124:y:2015:i:3:p:693-726. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.