Abstract
The contribution of recent “multidimensional indices of poverty” may not be as obvious as one thinks. There are two issues in assessing that contribution: whether one believes that a single index can ever be a sufficient statistic of poverty, and whether one aggregates in the space of “attainments,” using prices when appropriate, or “deprivations,” using weights set by the analyst. The paper argues that we should aim for a credible set of multiple indices rather than a single multidimensional index. Partial aggregation will still be necessary, but ideally the weights should be consistent with well-informed choices by poor people.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alkire, S., Foster, J.: Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement. Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Working Paper 7, University of Oxford (2007)
Alkire, S., Santos, M.E.: Acute multidimensional poverty: A new index for developing countries. Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Working Paper 38, University of Oxford (2010a)
Alkire, S., Santos, M.E.: Multidimensional poverty index. Research Brief, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, University of Oxford (2010b)
Atkinson, A.B.: On the measurement of poverty. Econometrica 55, 749–764 (1987)
Atkinson, A.B., Bourguignon, F.: The comparison of multi dimensional distributions of economic status. Rev. Econ. Stud. 49, 183–201 (1982)
Bourguignon, F., Chakravarty, S.: The measurement of multidimensional poverty. J. Econ. Ineq. 1, 25–49 (2003)
Chakravarty, S., Deutsch, J., Silber, J.: On the watts multidimensional poverty index and its decomposition. World Dev. 36(6), 1067–1078 (2008)
Duclos, J.-Y., Sahn, D., Younger, S.: Robust multidimensional poverty comparisons. Econ. J. 116, 943–968 (2006)
Foster, J., Greer, J., Thorbecke, E.: A class of decomposable poverty measures. Econometrica 52, 761–765 (1984)
Haddad, L., Kanbur, R.: How serious is the neglect of intra-household inequality? Econ. J. 100, 866–881 (1990)
Lokshin, M., Ravallion, M.: Rich and powerful? Subjective power and welfare in Russia. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 56, 141–172 (2005)
Ravallion, M.: Poverty Comparisons. Harwood Academic Press, Chur (1994)
Ravallion, M.: Mashup indices of development. Policy Research Working Paper 5432, World Bank, Washington DC (2010a)
Ravallion, M.: Troubling tradeoffs in the human development index. Policy Research Working Paper 5484, World Bank, Washington DC (2010b)
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., Fitoussi, J.P.: Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr (2009)
Tsui, K.-Y.: Multidimensional poverty indices. Soc. Choice Welf. 19, 69–93 (2002)
United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Report. New York: Palgrave Macmillan for the UNDP (2010)
Watts, H.W.: An economic definition of poverty. In: Moynihan, D.P. (ed.), On Understanding Poverty. Basic, New York (1968)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ravallion, M. On multidimensional indices of poverty. J Econ Inequal 9, 235–248 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-011-9173-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-011-9173-4