OPHI Summer School 2013: Multidimensional Poverty Analysis
Organised by OPHI and hosted at the Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP) George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
The purpose of the 2013 intensive Summer School was to provide a thorough conceptual and technical introduction to some techniques of measuring multidimensional poverty with a strong emphasis on the Alkire Foster method. Participants revised axiomatic poverty measures, and learned about different techniques of multidimensional poverty measurement and which problems they are best suited to solve. The empirical motivation for measuring multidimensional poverty was presented, as well as the conceptual motivation, drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach.
The following topics were covered:
- Axiomatic approaches to unidimensional and multidimensional poverty;
- Methodologies to analyse multidimensional poverty – dashboard, stochastic dominance, information theory, fuzzy set, multiple correspondence analysis, unmet basic needs and counting approaches – and the problems each methodology best solves;
- The Alkire Foster methodology of multidimensional poverty measurement;
- Selection of parameters – purpose, unit of measure, dimensions, indicators, cut-offs and weights;
- Data reduction techniques for measure design and analysis;
- Subgroup decomposition and mapping;
- Multidimensional poverty dynamics;
- Disparity among the poor and across groups;
- Econometric analysis of multidimensional poverty; and
- Institutions, policies, and communication.
The summer school was led by the Researchers and Director of the OPHI, and included sessions by OPHI Research Associate and Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP) Professor James Foster. OPHI instructors included Sabina Alkire, Paola Ballón, Maria Emma Santos, Mauricio Apablaza, José Manuel Roche, and Suman Seth.
OPHI Summer School Materials 2013 Pre-Summer School Readings
- ‘The Capability Approach to the Quality of Life’, Sabina Alkire (2008)
- ‘Counting and Multidimensional Poverty’, Sabina Alkire and James Foster (2009)
- ‘Training Material for Producing National Human Development Reports’, Sabina Alkire and Maria Emma Santos (2011)
- Mid term answer key
Presentations
- Day 1:
- Unidimensional Poverty Measurement (JF) See also ‘A Unified Approach to Measuring Poverty and Inequality: Theory and Practice’
- Why Multidimensional (MD) Poverty Measures? (SA)
- Overview of MD Poverty Methods (SA & PB & MES)
Day 2:
- Introduction to the Capability Approach (SA)
- Properties of MD Poverty (SS) – Additional Slides (SA)
- Alkire-Foster (AF) Methodology (JF & SA)
- Summary of Useful Formulas for the AF Method (MES)
- Paper Exercise (MES)
Day 3:
- Solving exercises on AF Methodology (AV)
- Normative Issues in Multidimensional Poverty Measurement (SA)
- Case Study: The International MPI (MES & JMR)
- Case Studies: National MD Poverty Measures (SA). For material covered in this presentation please see the OPHI page on the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network; in particular the link to presentations given during the launch of the Network. Also see the materials available on the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) page.
Day 4:
- Working groups (MES): Exercise
- Survey Design, Bias Analysis, Missing Values; Sample Drop (JMR)
- STATA Lab and Descriptive Statistics (MA). Basic STATA Commands & Sample Do-file
Day 5:
- Working groups: Exploring the Dataset (MA & PB)
- Working in Groups: Creating the Deprivation Matrix (MA) (Example with the sample dataset – Part 1)
- Presentations
Day 6:
- Measures of Association (PB & SA & JMR)
- Exercise, Answer Key (JMR & AV)
Day 7:
- Working in Groups: Aggregated Results (MA) (Example with the sample dataset – Part 2)
- Decomposition by Subgroup (JMR & SS)
- Decomposition by Dimension (JMR & SS)
Day 8:
- AF in STATA updated (MA)
- Decomposition in STATA (MA)
- Collapsing results & Maps in STATA (MA)
- Sensitivity, Robustness Analysis & SE (PB & SS)
- Robustness in STATA (MA)
- Post-2015 MDGs and Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data (SA)
Day 9:
- Inequality among the poor (SS & SA)
- Analysis over Time (SS & JMR)
- Regression Analysis with AF measures (PB) Regression do file
- Working Groups: My First MPI (updated) – Graphs
Day 10:
