Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty: Correlations, Mismatches and Joint Distributions

We consider the relationships between multidimensional and monetary poverty indices in international and national poverty profiles, and evaluate the empirical consequences of identifying poor people relying on a combination of both approaches. Taking first a cross-country perspective, focusing on the developing world, we find that the incidence of poverty accord- ing to money metrics and the global MPI, a non-monetary measure of poverty, are correlated. This correlation breaks down in poorer countries. We use micro-data from six countries to study the joint densities of monetary and multidimensional welfare and the poverty identification mismatches for a comprehensive array of poverty line pairs. Mismatches are important, particularly, again, in the poorer countries. Although mismatches could be solved by combining both approaches in a dual cutoff poverty measure, the choice of the monetary poverty line remains a considerable issue as it changes the non-monetary composition of poverty.

Citation: Evans, M. Nogales, R. and Robson, M. (2020). ‘Monetary and multidimensional poverty: Correlations, mismatches, and joint distributions’, OPHI Working Paper 133, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.

This paper is also published in The Journal of Development Studies, 2024, Vol. 60(1), pp. 147–170.