Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement

Sabina Alkire; James Foster

doi:10.1007/s10888-011-9181-4

The Journal of Economic Inequality

June 2011, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp 289–314

Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement

Authors
Authors and affiliations

Sabina AlkireEmail author
James Foster

Article

First Online:: 18 June 2011

Received:: 01 March 2011
Accepted:: 20 April 2011

DOI: 10.1007/s10888-011-9181-4

Cite this article as:: Alkire, S. & Foster, J. J Econ Inequal (2011) 9: 289. doi:10.1007/s10888-011-9181-4

Abstract

Multidimensional measures provide an alternative lens through which poverty may be viewed and understood. In recent work we have attempted to offer a practical approach to identifying the poor and measuring aggregate poverty (Alkire and Foster, J Public Econ, 2011). As this is quite a departure from traditional unidimensional and multidimensional poverty measurement—particularly with respect to the identification step—further elaboration may be warranted. In this paper we elucidate the strengths, limitations, and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement in order to clarify the debate and catalyse further research. We begin with general definitions of unidimensional and multidimensional methodologies for measuring poverty. We provide an intuitive description of our measurement approach, including a ‘dual cutoff’ identification step that views poverty as the state of being multiply deprived, and an aggregation step based on the traditional FGT measures. We briefly discuss five characteristics of our methodology that are easily overlooked or mistaken and conclude with some brief remarks on the way forward.

Keywords

Poverty measurement Multidimensional poverty Deprivation FGT measures Decomposability Joint distribution Axiom

JEL Classification

I3 I32 D63 O1

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Authors and Affiliations

Sabina Alkire
- 1
Email author
James Foster
- 1
- 2

1.Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Oxford Department of International DevelopmentUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
2.The Institute for International Economic Policy, The Elliott SchoolThe George Washington UniversityWashington, DCUSA

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Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement

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