OPHI

OPHI Summer School on Multidimensional Poverty Analysis ~ Washington, DC, USA – July 2013

Organised by OPHI and hosted at the International Institute for Economic Policy (IIEP)
George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA ~ 8-19 July 2013

The purpose of this intensive summer school is to provide a thorough conceptual and technical introduction to some techniques of measuring multidimensional poverty with a strong emphasis on the Alkire Foster method. Participants will revise axiomatic poverty measures, and will learn about different techniques of multidimensional poverty measurement and which problems they are best suited to solve. The empirical motivation for measuring multidimensional poverty will be presented as well as the conceptual motivation, drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach.

The following topics will be covered:

• Axiomatic approaches to unidimensional and multidimensional poverty;
• Methodologies to analyse multidimensional poverty – dashboard, stochastic dominance, information theory, fuzzy set, multiple correspondence analysis, unmet basic needs and counting approaches – and the problems each methodology best solves;
• The Alkire Foster methodology of multidimensional poverty measurement;
• Selection of parameters – purpose, unit of measure, dimensions, indicators, cut-offs and weights;
• Data reduction techniques for measure design and analysis;
• Subgroup decomposition and mapping;
• Multidimensional poverty dynamics;
• Disparity among the poor and across groups;
• Econometric analysis of multidimensional poverty; and
• Institutions, policies, and communication.

The summer school will be led by the Researchers and Director of the OPHI, and will include sessions by OPHI Research Associate and Director of the International Institute for Economic Policy (IIEP) Professor James Foster. OPHI instructors include Sabina Alkire, Paola Ballón, Maria Emma Santos, Mauricio Apablaza, José Manuel Roche, Suman Seth, and Diego Zavaleta.

Course Format:
The summer school will consist of ten and a half days of instruction and working group sessions, taught in English. Each participant needs to bring a laptop with STATA with them to do the problem sets. Throughout the summer school, participants will be actively involved in discussions and working through problem sets, and will be invited to present their research work as well as to share their experiences.

Dates and Location:
The course is Monday 8^th to Friday 19^th July 2013, with a final exam on 20^th July (non compulsory).  Classes will be at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.

Costs:
The course fee is varied as follows:

• $750 USD for all students, and for academic researchers based in developing countries;
• $1500 USD for professionals based in developing countries; and
• $2500 USD for professionals based in developed countries

In addition, participants will need to pay for accommodation, meals ($25/per day for modest fare), and travel fares (and cost of STATA software program).  Additionally, kindly note, the American visa application fee is $160 USD. For information on scholarships please see below.

For the 2013 preliminary programme, please click here.

COURSE APPLICATION INFORMATION