At Davos, why is no one talking about the poor?

Article in TIME magazine this week asks why the perspective of the poor is missing from the World Economic Forum discussions.Read article.

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New paper on measurement errors and multidimensional poverty

Measurement Errors and Multidimensional Poverty is a new OPHI Working Paper by, Cesar Calvo and Fernando Fernandez, Universidad de Piura. Data measurement errors can cause an upward bias in unidimensional poverty estimates and thus mislead both conceptual and empirical discussions. This paper expands the analysis to the case of multidimensional poverty. It finds that the dual cut-off strategy used by the Alkire-Foster measure typically attenuates this bias. Empirical evidence from Peru supports this attenuation effect. Read more.

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Paper on measuring corruption forthcoming in World Bank Economic Review

OPHI Working Paper 29 – “An Axiomatic Approach to the Measurement of Corruption: Theory and Applications” by OPHI Research Associate James Foster, Andrew W. Horowitz and Fabio Méndez – is to be published in The World Bank Economic Review.  The paper demonstrates that the axiomatic measurement approach developed in the poverty and inequality literature can be usefully applied to the measurement of corruption. It develops a conceptual framework for organizing corruption data and discuss several objective, aggregate corruption measures consistent with axiomatic requirements. OPHI Working Paper 29.

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Article by Sabina Alkire published by AFD and EUDN

A new volume Measure for Measure: How Well Do We Measure Development? (Proceedings of the 8th AFD-EUDN Conference, 2010), just published, features an article by OPHI Director, Sabina Alkire entitled ‘Multidimensional Poverty and its Discontents’. The volume considers the question ‘can we really know the meaning of “development” as long as there is no agreement on how to measure it?’ as discussed at the Agence Francaise de Développment (AFD) and the European Development Research Network (EUDN) conference in Paris, 1^st December 2010.

Other contributors include Angus Deaton, with an article on ‘Measuring Development: Different Data, Different Conclusions?’, Andrew E Clark and Claudia Senik on ‘Will GDP Growth Increase Subjective Happiness in Developing Countries?’ and Michel Aglietta on ‘Sustainable Growth: Do We Really Measure the Challenge?’. The volume is introduced by Francois Bourguignon, Paris School of Economics. Read more.

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Simon Maxwell on “re-thinking Europe: what development can offer”

“Reading about Greece or Italy or Spain or Ireland today reminds me strongly of reading about and working in African countries in the mid-1980s – similarly crippled by debt crises, and similarly subject to external monitoring and interference,” writes Simon Maxwell,  Development Economist and former Director of the Overseas Development Institute, in a new blog post discussing the resonance of the human development approach to the current crises across Europe. “Rigorous monetarist discipline not only stopped growth in its tracks, but also undermined human welfare and, in many cases, destroyed the social contract.” Read more.

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OPHI Lunchtime Seminars 2012

OPHI’s list of lunchtime seminars in Hilary term 2012 is now available, including presentations on sub-national disparities and the inter-temporal evolution of Multidimensional Poverty across developing countries and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index. View the full list.

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New! OPHI Research in Progress Paper 32a

A new OPHI Research in Progress Paper titled Sub-national Disparities and Inter-temporal Evolution of Multidimensional Poverty across Developing Countries (By Sabina Alkire, José Manuel Roche and Suman Seth) focuses on the new analyses of sub-national decompositions and changes over time for 1.4 billion of the 1.65 billion MPI poor people identified by the MPI in 2011. It analyses the incidence, intensity and composition of multidimensional poverty at sub-national levels for 66 developing countries, and presents poverty estimates for 683 sub-national regions. Read more

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Sabina Alkire presenting at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) conference, Pakistan

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is holding its Fourteenth Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) from 13—15 December 2011 in Islamabad, Pakistan. This year’s Conference is titled ‘Redefining Paradigms of Sustainable Development in South Asia’. On 13 December Sabina Alkire, OPHI’s Director, gave a keynote speech on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and will chair a panel on ‘Revisiting Poverty Debate: Alternative Ways for Conceptualization, Measurement and Targeting’ on 14 December 9.30-11.30 am (PST).

Watch a live stream of the proceedings of SDC from 13-15 December 2011 between 9.30 am – 5.00 pm (PST) daily.
http://sdpi.tv/

Conference agenda and panels
http://www.sdpi.org/sdc/index.php?event_id=45

The session ‘Revisiting Poverty Debate: Alternative Ways for Conceptualization, Measurement and Targeting’ chaired by Sabina Alkire, will feature special comments by Dr. Sajjad Akhtar, Former Director, Centre for Research on Poverty Reduction and Income Distribution, Planning Commission of Pakistan; and, Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan. The panel organizer is Mr. Arif Naveed, Senior Research Associate, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan.

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Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the  International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) have come together to develop a Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index to measure women’s roles and engagement in the agriculture sector.

Women are a primary focus of USAID’s Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative – a global hunger and food security initiative that aims to reduce poverty and undernutrition. Read more about the WEIA Index.

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New MPI 2011 results launched ~ 7 December

On 7 December, at a special policy forum in London, OPHI released new analysis for the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2011.

What’s new?

• In 2011, the MPI has been calculated for 5 new countries and updated for 20
• The MPI has been calculated for 683 sub-national regions across 66 countries
• Changes of MPI over time have been analysed for 10 countries

Key findings, press release, resources, maps, country briefings and more can be accessed on OPHI’s MPI page.

Speakers at the forum include Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI at Oxford University’s Department of International Development, James E. Foster, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University and OPHI Research Associate and Jose Manuel Roche and Suman Seth, OPHI Research Officers. The panel was chaired by Joanna Macrae, Research and Evidence, DFID.

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Grim Predictions ~ Frontline

Volume 28, Issue 25, Dec 03-16, 2011, by G. Srinivasan

A new article in the Frontline magazine analyses India’s rankings in HDRO 2011. It describes the MPI figures as “an eye-opener for India in the matter of ensuring ‘growth with equity’ or inclusive growth for millions,” at a time fraught with controversy over who can be categorised as Below Poverty Line (BLP) to access basic provisions for decent living. Read more

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OPHI lecture by Cesar Calvo ~ 21 November, Oxford

Cesar Calvo, Director, Economics and Finance Program, Universidad de Piura, Peru spoke on ‘Vulnerability to Individual Poverty and Vulnerability to Aggregate Poverty’ (joint work with Stefan Dercon) on 21 November at 1-2pm in Seminar Room 3 at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford.

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Launch of African Monitor’s “Development Support Monitor 2011″

The Development Support Monitor 2011 was launched by African Monitor on 9-10 November 2011 and introduced the African Monitor’s policy theme for the next 4 years – ‘Unlocking the African Moment: a call for grassroots focused development agenda.’ The Development Support Monitor 2011 brings fresh insight into the needs of grassroots communities in Africa and highlights key sectors that development funding allocations should be targeting for investment. It tracks development funding commitments and delivery by African Governments and their international development partners – and it does so from the perspectives of the poor; the grassroots communities. Download the full report here. Read more on the African Monitor website.

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Conference on South Asia in Transition

OPHI and the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, are co-sponsoring a conference on “South Asia in Transition” to be held at the Manor Road Building, University of Oxford on 25-26 November 2011. Suman Seth, OPHI Research Officer, will present a new paper Identifying Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households in India: A Comparison of Methods (joint work with Sabina Alkire).

For the programme of the conference click here

For more details, visit the conference website at “South Asia in Transition – Oxford Sociology Conference“

Attendance is free, but registration is mandatory.
Please register here: http://doodle.com/wtfn49hd95cxt9ny

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OPHI presentation at UCL Conference

OPHI Researcher Jose Manuel Roche presented on ‘Sub-national Disparity in Multidimensional Poverty’ at the University College of London conference on ‘The City of Urban Poverty’ held in London on 10 – 11 November 2011.

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Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze on growth and poverty in India

“Is India doing marvellously well, or is it failing terribly?”. Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize-winning Economist and OPHI’s Advisor, and Jean Drèze, Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Allahabad University, discuss the place of economic growth in development in the Indian news website Outlook India this month.

The article “Putting Growth In Its Place ~It has to be but a means to development, not an end in itself” looks at India’s slow progress in improving areas like living standards for common people – “so slow that India’s social indicators are still abysmal”. According to the article, World Bank data shows that only five countries outside Africa (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Yemen) have a lower “youth female literacy rate” than India (World Development Indicators 2011, online). This constrasts with the country’s quite remarkable growth rates – second-highest in the world, next to China. In response, the authors discuss the importance of “growth-mediated development” in improving the living standards of the poor…  Read the article in full.

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OPHI Workshop on Multidimensional Poverty Dynamics

OPHI Researcher Gaston Yalonetzky led a workshop on Multidimensional Poverty Dynamics on 16 November. The workshop included presentations on measuring deprivations among children in different countries; time series and intertemporal poverty comparisons as well as discussing the directions for research in the field. Read more

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Launch of UNDP’s 2011 Human Development Report

On 2 November, the United Nations Development Report Office launched UNDP’s 2011 Human Development Report – “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All” in Denmark with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.

The 2011 HDR features updated Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) results for 109 countries and new analysis, including:

• Environmental poverty through the MPI lens
• Trends in MPI poverty over time for 7 countries
• Unmet need for family planning among the multidimensionally poor
• Figures for people vulnerable to poverty and living in severe poverty, by country
• Five new countries added to the total
• Twenty one countries updated with more recent MPI data

Updates to MPI 2011 data are available on OPHI’s MPI pages:

• Country profiles – MPI facts by country, as featured in the 2011 HDR
• Data tables – updated for 2011, as featured in the 2011 HDR
• Interactive map – explore MPI results by country
• About the MPI – read OPHI’s updated MPI pages

For more information on the 2011 Human Development Report and the complete press kit please visit: http://hdr.undp.org

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OPHI Researcher at UNDP and UNICEF conference

24th October 2011

OPHI Researcher, Jose Manuel Roche presented on “Monitoring Child Poverty: Measures that Reflect the Intensity and Components of Child Poverty” at the international conference on “Human Development and Human Rights: two decades of advancement, what’s next for children and youth? Agency and participation for enhancing equity.” The conference was being organized by UNDP, through the Human Development Office, and UNICEF in the Dominican Republic and took place in Santo Domingo on 24-25 October 2011.

The Conference will provide a space for the discussion of major benefits and challenges of the integration of Human Rights and Human Development frameworks and their usefulness for designing better policies, programs and projects directed to children and youth. In particular, the debate will focus on children’s and youth participation and agency, examining their relation with inequity reduction.

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OPHI Director at OECD meeting ~ Two years after Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi

12 October 2011

OPHI Director Sabina Alkire attended the meeting organized by France and OECD titled “Two Years After the Stiglitx-Sen-Fitoussi Report: What Well-Being and Sustainability Measures?”

Dr. Alkire attended on behalf of the Government of Bhutan to speak about the country’s Gross National Happiness Index which measures wellbeing in the country. You can watch the session live at the following link: http://www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_48428993_1_1_1_1_1,00.html.

Two years ago, the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress presented its report to the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The Commission recommended broadening the scope of traditional measures for economic performance to include measures of quality of life, inequalities and wellbeing, as well as better taking into account sustainability and environmental conditions. This conference takes that discussion forward, and focuses in part on the experiences of developing countries such as Bhutan, Colombia and Morocco in measuring wellbeing.

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