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The Information Basis of Multivariate Poverty Assessments

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Author Info
Maasoumi, Esfandiar () (SMU)
Lugo, Maria (University of Oxford)

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Abstract

Measures of multivariate well-being, such as poverty or inequality, are scalar functions of matrices of several attributes, m, associated with a number of individual or households, N. This entails inevitable “aggregation” and summarization over individuals as well as attributes. There is no escape from this. Such aggregation, in turn, implies a set of weights attached to each individual, and some normative decision on how they relate. The aggregation over the attributes also forces decisions about the weight to be given to each attribute and the relation between the attributes as, perhaps, substitutes or complements. We argue in favor of information theory aggregation methods which are explicit about such normative choices, and help place other methods in this realistic context. According to axiomatically well developed measures of divergence in information theory, our measures are “ideal” and other methods are therefore sub-optimal. The advocacy of the latter must be accompanied by well argued positions in support of special properties and other considerations which may be compelling in a given context or application.

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Paper provided by Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number 0603.

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Length: 26 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2006
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Handle: RePEc:smu:ecowpa:0603

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kai-yuen Tsui, 2002. "Multidimensional poverty indices," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 69-93. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Maasoumi, Esfandiar, 1986. "The Measurement and Decomposition of Multi-dimensional Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(4), pages 991-97, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. François Bourguignon & Satya Chakravarty, 2003. "The Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 25-49, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. A. Atkinson, 2003. "Multidimensional Deprivation: Contrasting Social Welfare and Counting Approaches," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 51-65, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Bourguignon, F. & Chakravarty, S.R., 1998. "A Family of Multidimensional Poverty Measures," DELTA Working Papers 98-03, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  6. Strauss, J. & Thomas, D., 1995. "Health, Nutrition and Economic development," Papers 95-23, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
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  7. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2005. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty: An Empirical Comparison Of Various Approaches," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(1), pages 145-174, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Ebrahimi, Nader & Maasoumi, Esfandiar & Soofi, Ehsan S., 1999. "Ordering univariate distributions by entropy and variance," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 317-336, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Sami Bibi, 2004. "Comparing Multidimensional Poverty between Egypt and Tunisia," Cahiers de recherche 0416, CIRPEE. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mª Casilda Lasso de la Vega & Ana Urrutia & Henar Diez, 2009. "The Bourguignon and Chakravarty multidimensional poverty family: A characterization," Working Papers 109, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
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