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Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement

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  • Sabina Alkire, James Foster

Abstract

This paper proposes a new methodology for multidimensional poverty measurement consisting of an identification method ρκ ('rho-kapa') that extends traditional approaches, and a class of poverty measures Μα ('Mu-alpha') that satisfies several desirable properties including decomposability. Our identification step employs two forms of cutoff: one within each dimension and a second across dimensions that identifies the poor by counting their deprivations. We aggregate using Foster-Greer-Thorbecke measures adjusted for multidimensionality. Our adjusted headcount ratio is well suited for use with ordinal data. Examples from Indonesia and the US illustrate our methodology.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabina Alkire, James Foster, 2009. "Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement," OPHI Working Papers 7, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp007
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    More about this item

    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
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government

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