Conditions for the most robust multidimensional poverty comparisons using counting measures
Dr. Gaston Yalonetzky , Leeds University - OPHI
The counting approach to the measurement of multidimensional poverty has gained popularity recently with the publication of a "Multidimensional Poverty Index" (MPI) in the 2010 and 2011 Human Development Reports (UNDP). The MPI is based on a member of the Alkire-Foster (AF) family of counting measures that stands out for its resilience in identifying the multidimensionally poor with cut-off criteria covering the spectrum from the union identification approach to the intersection approach. However, a natural concern with these measures, as well as with other composite indices, is whether their ordinal comparisons are robust to changes in the indices’ parameter values. Applying multivariate stochastic dominance techniques, this paper derives the distributional conditions under which a multidimensional poverty comparison based on counting measures is fully robust to any values of the indices’ parameters. As the paper shows, the conditions are relevant to most of the multidimensional poverty indices in the literature, including the Alkire-Foster family.
About the speaker
Gaston Yalonetzky is a Lecturer at the Leeds University Business School, and a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. His research interests are in the fields of economic development, socio-economic mobility, group inequality and measurement of wellbeing.
Venue: Conference Room
Date: 07 June 2012
Time: 12:30 - 13:30 CET
