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Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in India: A New Proposal

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  • Sabina Alkire, Suman Seth

Abstract

This paper focuses on the methodology by which India's 2002 Below the Poverty Line (BPL) census data identify the poor and construct a BPL headcount. Using the BPL 2002 methodology it identifies which rural families would have been considered BPL if NFHS (National Family Health Survey) data had been used rather than BPL census data. It compares these to poor families that would be identified using the same variables with the Alkire and Foster multidimensional poverty methodology. It finds that up to 12 per cent of the poor sample population and 33 per cent of the extreme poor could be misclassified as non-poor by the pseudo-BPL method. The paper also develops a sample Index of Deprivation that responds to criticisms regarding BPL data. We compare these results with income poverty and with pseudo-BPL status for sample respondents and disaggregate the index by state and break it down by dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabina Alkire, Suman Seth, 2008. "Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in India: A New Proposal," OPHI Working Papers 15, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp015
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    File URL: https://ophi.org.uk/working-paper-number-15/
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    7. Basu, Kaushik & Foster, James E, 1998. "On Measuring Literacy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(451), pages 1733-1749, November.
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    9. Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi & Ruhi Saith & Frances Stewart, 2003. "Does it Matter that we do not Agree on the Definition of Poverty? A Comparison of Four Approaches," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 243-274.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vijaya, Ramya M. & Lahoti, Rahul & Swaminathan, Hema, 2014. "Moving from the Household to the Individual: Multidimensional Poverty Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 70-81.
    2. Aneela Qadir & Muhammad Arshad & Waqar Ahmad & Muhammad Rafique & Wang Rongdang, 2023. "An Evaluation of Uni and Multidimensional Poverty Among Farming and Non-Farming Community," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 175-199, February.
    3. Diaz, Yadira & Angulo, Roberto & Pardo, Renata, 2013. "Multidimensional poverty in Colombia, 1997-2010," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Gaël Giraud & Cécile Renouard & Hélène L'Huillier & Raphaële de La Martinière & Camille Sutter, 2012. "Relational Capability: A Multidimensional Approach," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00827690, HAL.
    5. Roberto Carlos Angulo Salazar & Beatriz Yadira Diaz & Renata Pardo Pinzon, 2013. "A Counting Multidimensional Poverty Index in Public Policy Context: The Case of Colombia," OPHI Working Papers 62, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    6. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2011. "Conditions for the Most Robust Poverty Comparisons Using the Alkire-Foster Family of Measures," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp044b, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    7. Trani, Jean-François & Cannings, Tim I., 2013. "Child Poverty in an Emergency and Conflict Context: A Multidimensional Profile and an Identification of the Poorest Children in Western Darfur," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 48-70.
    8. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2014. "Conditions for the most robust multidimensional poverty comparisons using counting measures and ordinal variables," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 43(4), pages 773-807, December.
    9. Rishi Kumar, 2018. "Different Approaches to Identify the Poor: Do They converge?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 589-610, September.
    10. Edsel Beja & David Yap, 2013. "Counting Happiness from the Individual Level to the Group Level," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 621-637, November.
    11. Sabyasachi Tripathi & Komali Yenneti, 2020. "Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty in India: A State-level Analysis," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 14(2), pages 257-274, August.

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