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Measuring Poverty Efficiently Using Adaptive Deprivation Scales

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  • Nick Bailey

    (University of Glasgow)

Abstract

Deprivation scales are becoming increasingly familiar in research and official statistics on poverty. Taking advantage of the basis of these scales in Item Response Theory, this paper proposes a more efficient approach to implementation using adaptive testing. This maximises information collected for a given amount of survey time by screening respondents on the basis of initial answers, and halting questioning where it is very unlikely any further information will be gathered. The paper illustrates various implementations using data from eight years of the UK’s Family Resources Survey (FRS). Results show that an adaptive approach collects more than 99% of the information from the UK’s official deprivation measure in half the survey time. In addition, the paper suggests improvements in the design of the UK’s official deprivation scale as well as lessons for the development of future deprivation scales more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Nick Bailey, 2020. "Measuring Poverty Efficiently Using Adaptive Deprivation Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 891-910, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:149:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02283-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02283-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alessio Fusco & Paul Dickes, 2008. "The Rasch Model and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Nanak Kakwani & Jacques Silber (ed.), Quantitative Approaches to Multidimensional Poverty Measurement, chapter 3, pages 49-62, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2003. "Measuring the Well-Being of the Poor Using Income and Consumption," NBER Working Papers 9760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Andrea Brandolini & Silvia Magri & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2010. "Asset-based measurement of poverty," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 267-284.
    4. Nanak Kakwani & Jacques Silber (ed.), 2008. "Quantitative Approaches to Multidimensional Poverty Measurement," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-58235-4.
    5. Rizopoulos, Dimitris, 2006. "ltm: An R Package for Latent Variable Modeling and Item Response Analysis," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 17(i05).
    6. Rod Hick, 2013. "Poverty, Preference or Pensioners? Measuring Material Deprivation in the UK," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 31-54, March.
    7. Monica Szeles & Alessio Fusco, 2013. "Item response theory and the measurement of deprivation: evidence from Luxembourg data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 1545-1560, April.
    8. Mike Brewer & Cormac O'Dea, 2012. "Measuring living standards with income and consumption: evidence from the UK," IFS Working Papers W12/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. 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.
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    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. Ilari Ilmakunnas & Lauri Mäkinen, 2021. "Age Differences in Material Deprivation in Finland: How do Consensus and Prevalence-Based Weighting Approaches Change the Picture?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 393-412, April.
    3. Nick Bailey & Anne-Catherine Guio, 2022. "Adaptive Deprivation Scales in a Multi-National Context: The European Child Deprivation Indicators," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(6), pages 2335-2362, December.

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