Abstract
In order to contribute to providing a methodology to ensure objectivity and transparency in the measurement of multidimensional poverty, this paper proposes a new threshold for the identification of the multidimensional poor which is also applicable to each of the dimensions of poverty, suitable for identifying the severely poor in developed countries. This new methodology is applied to analyse the evolution of material deprivation in Spain during the period of economic crisis, comparing the results with those obtained using other traditional approaches.
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Notes
A review of the main methodologies to measure multidimensional poverty may be found in Silber (2007).
The use of absolute or relative lines leads to very different results as illustrated by Garroway and De Laiglesia (2012).
In order to analyse the performance of the threshold proposed using income as one of the dimensions of the poverty indicator, the threshold has also been used to analyse multidimensional poverty with data from Spain using the dimensions included in the AROPE rate (At risk of poverty or social exclusion) including monetary poverty. The results reveal the proper functioning of the threshold and are available to readers on request in an annex.
It should be noted that the concept of social exclusion has had great relevance in the European Union institutional framework, where the characterisation of poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon integrates aspects of social exclusion and material deprivation.
In this sense, Atkinson (1998) defines excluded people as those who have been removed from the involvement in the normal activities of the society in which they live, connecting with Sen's approach on the individual lacking the basic capabilities required to obtain the basic functionings in a society.
Sen (1983, p. 159) argues that “If there is starvation and hunger, then—no matter what the relative picture looks like—there clearly is poverty. In this sense the relative picture—if relevant—has to take a back seat behind the possibly dominating absolute consideration”.
These poverty indices are an extension of the family proposed by Foster et al. (1984) in the monetary poverty context.
The poverty intensity concept used in this paper is drawn from the Alkire and Foster methodology and refers to the number of deprivations experienced by the poor (Alkire and Foster 2011b). This concept differs from that used in the one-dimensional analysis of poverty in which the intensity of poverty is measured through a function that summarises the distances from the poverty line to the income of the poor (Jenkins and Lambert 1997).
In this sense, this measure overcomes one of the shortcomings of the multidimensional poverty headcount (H) since it does not increase when the number of deprivations that poor people have increases.
Other properties of M 0 could be found in Alkire and Foster (2011a).
In order to check the validity of the proposed threshold, using EU-SILC samples of the twenty-eight EU countries, from 2005 to 2013, we have tested whether PM distributions without outliers could exist. The analysis of all the PM distributions reveals that all PM distributions have outliers.
This work is part of a broad line of research on multidimensional poverty that utilises the EU-SILC for Spain and the other countries of the European Union and that, despite the diversity of approaches adopted, allows for some international comparisons of poverty multidimensional results. Among the most recent studies in this line of research, we can find those of Bárcena et al. (2014), Alkire et al. (2014), Whelan and Maître (2012, 2013) and the report of the Consejo Económico y Social (2013) which considers all available waves of the survey.
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Acknowledgments
Carmelo García acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PROYECTO ECO2014-56676-C2-2-P) and from the Comunidad de Madrid (PROYECTO S2015/HUM-3416-DEPOPOR-CM). Mercedes Prieto acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PROYECTO ECO2012-32178) and from the Comunidad de Madrid (PROYECTO S2015/HUM-3416-DEPOPOR-CM).
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García-Pérez, C., González-González, Y. & Prieto-Alaiz, M. Identifying the Multidimensional Poor in Developed Countries Using Relative Thresholds: An Application to Spanish Data. Soc Indic Res 131, 291–303 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1248-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1248-y