Table Of ContentThe Many Dimensions of Poverty
Also by Nanak Kakwani and Jacques Silber:
Nanak Kakwani and Jacques Silber (editors)
QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES TO MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY MEASUREMENT
Also by Nanak Kakwani:
Nanak Kakwani (author)
INCOME INEQUALITY AND POVERTY
Methods of Estimation and Policy Applications
Nanak Kakwani (author)
ANALYZING REDISTRIBUTION POLICIES
A Study using Australian Data
Also by Jacques Silber:
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HANDBOOK ON INCOME INEQUALITY MEASUREMENT
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THE MEASUREMENT OF SEGREGATION IN THE LABOR FORCE
The Many Dimensions of Poverty
Edited by
Nanak Kakwani
University of Sydney
Former Director, International Poverty Centre, Brazil
and
Jacques Silber
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
UNDP financial support to the
International Poverty Centre for holding
the International Conference on ‘The
Many Dimensions of Poverty’ and the
preparation of the papers in this volume
is gratefully acknowledged.
© United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
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The many dimensions of poverty / edited by Nanak Kakwani and Jacques
Silber.
p.cm.
Papers originally presented at an international conference in
Brasilia on August 29–31,2005.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Poverty – Congresses. 2. Public welfare – Congresses. I. Kakwani,
Nanak.II.Silber,Jacques.
HC79.P6M355 2007
339.4(cid:2)6 — dc22 2007022328
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Foreword ix
Preface xi
List of Contributors xiii
Introduction xiv
Nanak Kakwani and Jacques Silber
Part I: Different Disciplines, Different Perceptions 1
1 Multidimensional Poverty: Conceptual and Measurement Issues 3
Erik Thorbecke
2 Measuring Poverty: The Case for a Sociological Approach 20
David B. Grusky and Kim A. Weeden
3 Poverty Counts: Living with Poverty and Poverty Measures 36
Sara Berry
4 The Multidimensionality of Poverty: An Institutionalist Perspective 52
Alice Sindzingre
5 The Subjective Dimension of Poverty: A Psychological Viewpoint 75
Joaquina Palomar Lever
Part II: On Poverty and Freedom 87
6 Choosing Dimensions: The Capability Approach and
Multidimensional Poverty 89
Sabina Alkire
7 On the Concept and Measurement of Empowerment 120
Ruth Alsop
8 Participation, Pluralism and Perceptions of Poverty 140
Robert Chambers
9 A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty: The South
African Experience 165
Linda Jansen van Rensburg
Part III: Extending the Concept of Multidimensional Poverty 185
10 Identifying and Measuring Chronic Poverty: Beyond Monetary
Measures? 187
David Hulme and Andy McKay
v
vi Contents
11 Risk and Vulnerability to Poverty 215
Cesar Calvo and Stefan Dercon
Part IV: Critical Policy Issues 229
12 On the Political Economy of Poverty Alleviation 231
Marcelo Côrtes Nerì and Marcelo Casal de Xerez
13 On Assessing Pro-Poorness of Government Programmes:
International Comparisons 251
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son
Index 275
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
2.1 Examples of preferred measurement models by discipline 21
6.1 Multidimensional poverty: domain, achievement and time 99
6.2 Some domains of quality of life 109
6.3 Participatory dimensions, human rights, and sphere project 110
6.4 Basic needs – practical applications 112
6.5 Some philosophically defended dimensions of human value 113
6.6 Cross-cultural empirical studies of well-being and
universal values 114
7.1 Summary of analytic framework 127
7.2 Indirect indicators of empowerment: asset endowment 129
7.3 Indirect indicators of empowerment: opportunity structure 130
7.4 Case study analytic focus 131
10.1 Requirements for human flourishing and their relation to
chronic poverty 193
10.2 Doyal and Gough’s 11 intermediate needs 197
10.3 Nussbaum’s central human capabilities 197
10.4 Components of a composite measure of deprivation (Klasen) 200
10.5 Ordinal ranking of the top 30 essentials of life in three
impoverished communities in South Africa
(Clark and Qizilbash) 203
10.6 Well-being indicators (Barrientos) 205
13.1 Pro-Poor Policy index for welfare programmes in Thailand: 2000 260
13.2 Pro-Poor Policy index by urban and rural areas in
Thailand, 2000 261
13.3 Russian welfare systems in 2002 262
13.4 PPP indices for Russian welfare system in 2002 263
13.5 Pro-Poor Policy index for health services in Vietnam: 1997–98,
poverty gap ratio 264
13.6 Pro-Poor Policy index for education service in
Vietnam: 1997–98 265
13.7 Pro-Poor Policy index if universal education is provided in
Vietnam 266
13.8 Pro-Poor Policy index for basic infrastructure service in Vietnam,
1997–98 267
13.9 Pro-Poor Policy index for universal transfers to rural and
urban areas 269
13.10 PPP index for giving food stamps to poor 271
vii
viii List of Tables and Figures
Figures
2.1 Big-class regime 27
2.2 Big-classes forming outside site of production 28
2.3 Micro-class regime 28
2.4 Gradational micro-class regime 29
2.5 Fractal individualized inequality 30
2.6 Disorganized inequality 31
6.1 Multidimensional poverty for individual i: schematic overview 92
6.2 Example: achievement of individual iin five domains 93
7.1 Correlates of empowerment 121
8.1 Development as good change: from ill-being to well-being 147
8.2 Dimensions of powerlessness and ill-being 147
8.3 Body syndromes 148
8.4 The web of poverty’s disadvantages 148
8.5 Dimensions of methodology and outcome 152
13.1 Pro-Poor Policy indices under universal transfers and perfect
targeting (poverty gap ratio) 268
13.2 PPP indices under perfect targeting for 18 countries (poverty
gap ratio) 269
13.3 PPP indices for a food subsidy programme 271
Foreword
The International Poverty Centre (IPC) is one of the three global thematic facilities
established by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to bring knowl-
edge-based development services closer to country partners around the world. The
IPC has been built on a partnership between UNDP and the Government of
Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA). Its main goals are to
expand the knowledge and capacity of developing countries to design and imple-
ment effective human development policies, to facilitate knowledge sharing
through South – South cooperation for the reduction of poverty and to promote
global debates to improve our understanding of development and the achieve-
ments of the Millennium Development Goals.
The IPC, which is almost three years old, is fully immersed in a global agenda
aiming at reducing poverty. It took a major initiative in organizing an interna-
tional conference on ‘The Many Dimensions of Poverty’, which took place in
Brasilia on 29–31 August 2005. More than forty papers were presented by partici-
pants from all parts of the world. Although the majority of papers were of very
high quality and often reported on very original research, the IPC could only pub-
lish 26 selected papers in two books. The present book, entitled Many Dimensions
of Poverty, is mainly focused on conceptual issues relating to the multidimensional
nature of poverty, while the second book, which is more applied, presents various
quantitative approaches to the measurement of multidimensional poverty. The
topics covered in the two books are not entirely mutually exclusive and, as
expected, some overlap of issues could not be avoided.
The last three decades have indeed witnessed a blossoming of research on
poverty. The serious and also rigorous research on poverty began to take place in
the 1970s following Amartya Sen’s 1976 seminal paper on poverty measurement.
Most of this research has been focusing on income or consumption-based poverty
measures. With the publication of the UNDP’s Human Development Index in
1990, there has, however, been a clear shift towards a multidimensional approach
to poverty analysis. Poverty is now viewed as multifaceted, reflecting deprivation
suffered by people in many aspects of life such as unemployment, ill-health, mal-
nutrition, inadequate shelter, lack of education, vulnerability, powerlessness,
social exclusion and so on.
Yet again Amartya Sen’s (1985, 1992) seminal work on functionings and capabil-
ities has been the most influential in defining poverty in a multidimensional frame-
work. The capability approach provides the most logical and comprehensive
framework to understand multidimensional poverty. A functioning is an achieve-
ment, and a capability is the ability to achieve. Thus, functionings are directly
related to what life people actually lead, whereas capabilities are connected with the
freedom people have in choice of life or functionings. According to this approach,
poverty is viewed in terms of capability deprivation. An individual is defined as
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