Sabina Alkire

Dimensions of Human Development

If humandevelopment is “multidimensional” then perhaps we need to discuss what we mean by multidimensional: what is a dimension, and what are the multiple dimensions of interest? This paper develops an account of dimensions of humandevelopment, and shows its usefulness and its limitations — both in general and in relation to Amartya Sens capability approach. The second half of the paper surveys other major “lists” of dimensions that have been published in poverty studies, crosscultural psychology, moral philosophy, quality of life indicators, participatory development, and basic needs, and compares and contrasts them with the account sketched here.

Why the Capability Approach

In addressing operational challenges such as poverty or economic development, many researchers and practitioners wish to build upon insights raised by Sens capability approach and related writings. This paper argues that the comprehensive reach and foundation of the human development and capability approach has a value independent from and additional to their practical outworkings, and yet also that operational specifications are both possible and vital to the further development of the approach. The paper begins with a thumbnail sketch of the core concepts of the capability approach, and supplements these with additional informational and principle requirements that Sen argues to be necessary for a more complete assessment of a state of affairs. It traces some important avenues along which the Human Development Reports and other empirical studies have operationalized certain aspects of Sens capability approach. The paper then articulates further developments that might be expected, arguing that such developments must also build upon cutting edge research in other fields. It also identifies certain ‘value judgments’ that are inherent to the capability approach and should not be permanently dismissed by some methodological innovation.

Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index

This paper presents the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a measure of acute poverty, understood as a person’s inability to meet simultaneously minimum international standards in indicators related to the Millennium Development Goals and to core functionings. It constitutes the first implementation of the direct method to measure poverty for over 100 developing countries. After presenting the MPI, we analyse its scope and robustness, with a focus on the data challenges and methodological issues involved in constructing and estimating it. A range of robustness tests indicate that the MPI offers a reliable framework that can complement global income poverty estimates.

The capability approach : concepts, measures and applications

List of figures List of tables Introduction 1. Using the capability approach: prospective and evaluative analyses Sabina Alkire Part I. Concepts: 2. Amartya Sens capability view: insightful sketch or distorted picture? Mozaffar Qizilbash 3. Sens capability approach and feminist concerns Ingrid Robeyns 4. Beyond individual freedom and agency: structures of living together in the capability approach to development Severine Deneulin 5. Does identity matter? On the relevance of identity and interaction for capabilities Miriam Teschl and Laurent Derobert 6. Measuring Capabilities Flavio Comim Part II. Measures: 7. Do concepts matter? An empirical investigation of the differences between a capability and a monetary assessment of poverty Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi 8. Social exclusion in the EU: a capability-based approach Fotis Papadopoulos and Panos Tsakloglou 9. Complexity and vagueness in the capability approach: strengths or weaknesses? Enrica Chiappero Martinetti 10. Operationalising Sens capability approach: the influence of the selected technique Sara Lelli 11. Operationalizing capabilities in a segmented society: the role of institutions Kanchan Chopra and Anantha Kumar Duraiappah Part III. Applications: 12. Democracy, decentralisation and access to basic services: an elaboration on Sens capability approach Santosh Mehrotra 13. Reinforcing households capabilities as a way to reduce vulnerability and prevent poverty in equitable terms Jean-Luc Dubois and Sophie Rousseau 14. Capabilities over the lifecourse: at what age does poverty damage most? Shahin Yaqub 15. Social policy and the ability to appear in public without shame: some lessons from a food relief programme in Kinshasa Tom De Herdt 16. The capability approach and gendered education:some issues of operationalisation in the context of the HIV/AIDs epidemic in South Africa Elaine Unterhalter 17. Women and poverty In Mozambique: is there a gender bias In capabilities, employment conditions and living standards? Pier Giogio Ardeni and Antonio Andracchio 18. From the quantity to the quality of employment: an application of the capability approach to the Chilean labour market Kirsten Sehnbruch Index.

The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Introduction to the Special Issue

The aim of this special issue is to draw attention to “missing dimensions” of poverty data—dimensions that are of value to poor people, but for which we have scant or no data. Amartya Sen frames development as the process of expanding the freedoms that people value and have reason to value. Although the most widely known measure of human development includes income, longevity and education, many have argued that peoples values, and consequently multidimensional poverty, extend beyond these domains. In order to advance these multiple areas, it is at times necessary to conduct empirical studies using individual or household-level data on multiple dimensions of poverty. A critical barrier for international analyses of multidimensional poverty is that few or no high-quality indicators are available across countries and respondents in key domains that are deeply important to poor people and of potentially critical instrumental importance.

Designing the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)

This paper proposes a method for adjusting the HDI to reflect the distribution of human development achievements across the population, and across dimensions, using an inequality measure from the Atkinson family. We begin with a discussion of the proposed indices in an idealized setting where variables and their scales have been identified and the data are available. We then address the practical issues that arise when applying these methods to real data. The final section presents and evaluates another related approach.

Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts

The purpose of this background paper is i) to synthesize the discussions regarding the concept of human development, so as to inform the 2010 Report’s definition, and ii) drawing on the extensive policy and academic literatures, to propose relationships between the concept of human development and four related concepts: the Millennium Development Goals, Human Rights, Human Security, and Happiness. Inequality, the duration of outcomes across time, and environmental sustainability are also prominent due to their fundamental importance.

Multidimensional Poverty Reduction in India between 1999 and 2006: Where and How?

India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a reduction in the share of income poor, though the measured extent of this reduction varies, has been confirmed by different methods. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions, hence this paper explores the improvement in other social deprivations. An analysis of poverty from a multidimensional perspective shows the prevalence of multiple overlapping deprivations among the poor. This paper analyses the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006 using National Family and Health Surveys. We find a strong reduction in national poverty driven relatively more by some of the standard of living indicators, such as electricity, housing condition, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities, than other social indicators. The reduction, however, has not been uniform across different population subgroups and the pattern of reduction across states has been less pro-poor that of income poverty. In addition, the poorer subgroups have shown slower progress, widening the inter-group disparity in multidimensional poverty. In order to examine trends among the poorest of the poor, we define two additional subgroups of the poor and find that multidimensional poverty reduction has been accompanied by even stronger reductions in the share of the poorest of the poor by both definitions. The in-depth analysis pursued in this paper can also be conducted for other developing countries.

Global health and moral values.

Soon after assuming office on July 21 2003 the new Director-General of WHO Lee Jong-wook announced plans to launch several global health initiatives: reenergising primary health care to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) launching the ambitious 3 by 5 initiative to expand access to antiretroviral drug treatment to 3 million HIV-positive people by 200512 and accelerating country-based action through strengthening human resources. A similar pattern of new global initiatives characterised the opening phase of the previous WHO administration led by Gro Harlem Brundtland launching programmes such as Roll Back Malaria Stop TB tobacco control polio eradication and partnerships such as GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization).3 Ethics and moral values are invariably invoked to mobilise support for these global initiatives. Earlier on in May 2003 Lee used the terms social justice and security in his address to the World Health Assembly. On assuming office he underscored that “global health work must be guided by an ethical vision”. Recently he wrote: “Both technical excellence and political commitment have no value...unless they have an ethically sound purpose.” (excerpt)

Beyond Headcount: Measures that Reflect the Breadth and Components of Child Poverty

This paper presents a new approach to child poverty measurement that reflects the breadth and components of child poverty. The Alkire and Foster method presented in this paper seeks to answer the question ‘who is poor’ by considering the intensity of each child’s poverty. Once children are identified as poor, the measures aggregate information on poor children’s deprivations in a way that can be broken down to see where and how children are poor. The resulting measures go beyond the headcount by taking into account the breadth, depth or severity of dimensions of child poverty. The paper illustrates one way to apply this method to child poverty measurement, using Bangladeshi data from four rounds of the Demographic Health Survey covering the period 1997–2007. Results for Bangladesh show that the AF adjusted headcount ratio adds value because it produces a different ranking than the simple headcount, because it also reflects the simultaneous deprivations children experience (intensity). Given this, we argue that child poverty should not be assessed only according to the incidence of poverty but also by the intensity of deprivations that batter poor children’s lives at the same time. The Bangladesh example is used to illustrate how to compute and interpret the child poverty figures, how the final measure can be broken down by groups and by dimensions in order to analyse child poverty, how to interpret changes over time, and how to undertake robustness checks concerning the poverty cut-off.