OPHIOxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative
Oxford Department of International Development
Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Working Papers
Working Paper 33: Comparing Economic Mobility with Heterogeneity Indices: an Application to Education in Peru. By Gaston Yalonetzky. December 2009.
Working Paper 32: Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement. By Sabina Alkire and James E. Foster. December 2009.
Working Paper 31: Polarization and the Decline of the Middle Class: Canada and the US. By James E. Foster and Michael C. Wolfson. August 2009.
Read the published article in The Journal of Economic Inequality
Working Paper 28: A Dissimilarity Index of Multidimensional Inequality of Opportunity. By Gaston Yalonetzky. November 2009.
Working Paper 27: A Class of Association Sensitive Multidimensional Welfare Indices. By Suman Seth. January 2009.
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Special topic - Weighting Dimensions of Well-being. Working Papers 18 - 26.
Working Paper 25: Willingness-to-pay and the equivalent approach. By Marc Fleurbaey. August 2008.
Working Paper 23: Inequality, Interactions, and Human Development. By Suman Seth. August 2009
Working Paper 20: What good is happiness? By Marc Fleurbaey, Erik Schokkaert, and Koen Decancq. August 2008.
Working Paper 19: Expert opinion and participatory approaches to weighting. By David Clark and Sabina Alkire. August 2008.
Working Paper 18: Setting weights in multidimensional indices of well-being. By Koen Decancq and Maria Ana Lugo. August 2008.
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Special topic - Applications of Multidimensional Poverty Measurement. Working Papers 13-17.
Working Paper 17: Income and Beyond: Multidimensional Poverty in six Latin American countries. By Diego Battiston, Guillermo Cruces, Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, Maria Ana Lugo and Maria Emma Santos. Companion documents: ‘WP 17 Tables’ and ‘WP 17 Bootstrapped Estimates and Correlations’.
Working Paper 16: Multidimensional Poverty in China: Findings based on CHNS. By Jiantuo Yu.
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Working Paper 12: Towards a Multidimensional Measure of Human Agency: The Setting of Weights. By Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti and Sabina Alkire. September 2008.
Working Paper 11: Development: "a misconceived theory can kill". By Sabina Alkire. April 2008.
Working Paper 9: Concepts and Measures of Agency. By Sabina Alkire. January 2008.
Working Paper 8: External Capabilities. By James Foster and Christopher Handy. January 2008.
Shorter version 7.5 Revised Feb 09 Version in Spanish
Working Paper 0: The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: An Introduction. By Sabina Alkire. May 2007
OPHI circulates working papers for discussion at an early stage of development, and hence welcomes vigorous constructive comment. These working papers are still in-progress, and the final published version may vary significantly from this version. 
If you are interested in browsing other unpublished manuscripts related to human development and the capability approach you may be interested in visiting the website of the Human Development and Capability Association.
Missing Dimensions: documents and technical notes
‘Missing Dimensions’ colourful poster that introduces this theme. Available in PDF or printed copies upon request.
Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data Manual (Includes the main documents listed below: background information, the survey modules and tehcnical notes on implementation) (57 pages)
Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Background Information (3 pages)
Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: Indicators and Survey Modules (Last updated 26 June 2008. Includes the full text of the proposed survey modules for internationally comparable indicators).
Methodological Guidelines for Implementing and Analysing the Missing Dimensions surveys
Technical Notes on Use of the Employment Module
Technical Notes on Use of the Empowerment Module
Technical Notes on Use of the Psychological and Subjective Wellbeing Module
Dimensiones Faltantes de los Datos sobre la Pobreza: Una Propuesta de Indicadores Comparables a Nivel Internacional (Spanish translation of the proposed survey modules for internationally comparable indicators). (Last updated 8 October 2008)
OPHI e-Updates
The OPHI email Update is a monthly digest of opportunities, announcements and publications, highlighting key resources and information materials, and complemented by an online PDF version. Join the OPHI mailing list to receive your monthly Updates.
e-Update December 2009 [pdf]
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Piloting of Missing Dimensions Modules in the Philippines
- Amartya Sen addresses crowds in Oxford ~ Podcasts Available
- Missing Dimensions of Poverty Survey in Chile
- New Working Papers
- New Research in Progress
e-Update November 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Roundtable: ‘Economics and The Idea of Justice’
- Distinguished Public Lecture by Amartya Sen
- Seminar: Social Guarantees for the Eradication of Poverty in Chile
- OPHI Lunchtime Seminar Series
- Get Involved! Research, Visiting Fellows and Volunteers
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- OPHI Research Featured in UNICEF’s Child Poverty Insights
- OPHI at 3rd OECD World Forum, Busan, South Korea
- New E-Textbook Available – Free
- Recent Working Papers
- OPHI Presentations in Washington DC
e-Update October 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Distinguished Public Lecture by Amartya Sen
- OPHI Lunchtime Seminar Series
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Sarkozy Commission Appeals for Better Data and Stronger Measures
- HDCA Conference in Lima, Peru: Proceedings on Poverty, Participation & Power
- OPHI to Exhibit at 3rd OECD World Forum, Busan, South Korea
- HDCA Textbook Available from Earthscan
- Recent Working Papers
- Recent Research in Progress
e-Update September 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Call for Proposals for analysis of Chilean data on Missing Dimensions – deadline 15 September 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- OPHI Workshop on ‘Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data’ in Durban , South Africa
- Recent Working Papers
- Summer School on Capability and Multidimensional Poverty
- New Textbook Launched: An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach
- New People at OPHI
e-Update July/August 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Call for Proposals for analysis of Chilean data on Missing Dimensions – deadline 15 September 2009
- Call for Participants for Missing Dimensions workshop, Durban, 16 August 2009
- Get involved! Visiting and Sabbatical Fellows – next deadline 1 September 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Multidimensional Measurement in Different Contexts: workshop report and papers
- OPHI ‘Multidimensional Poverty Measurement’ poster available
- Revised survey modules and the full Chilean survey for each Missing Dimension available
- OPHI-CBMS collaboration in the Philippines on Missing Dimensions census
- Research in Progress – new postings
e-Update June 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- The IADB Adapts OPHI measure for Targeting Beneficiaries in Oportunidades, Mexico
- OPHI Measure Used in Creating the Bhutan Gross National Happiness Index
- New OPHI Working Paper
- New ‘Research in Progress’ series
- OPHI ‘Missing Dimensions’ poster
e-Update May 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Gordon Anderson presents Distinguished Visitor Lecture on Development
- ‘Distribution and Development’ course with James Foster, May–June 2009
- Vacancy: Research Officer in Human Development Data and Indicators
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- OPHI Workshop on Robustness Methods for Multidimensional Welfare Analysis
- OPHI Workshop on Multidimensional Measures in Six Contexts
- OPHI Brochure 2009
e-Update April 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Vacancy: Research Officer in Human Development Data and Indicators
- Summer School on Capability and Multidimensional Poverty
- ‘Distribution and Development’ course with James Foster, May–June 2009
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- OPHI and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship
- OPHI Workshop on Robustness Methods for Multidimensional Welfare Analysis
- New People at OPHI
e-Update March 2009 [pdf]
OPPORTUNITIES
- Summer school on Capability and Multidimensional Poverty
- Vacancy: Research Officer in Human Development Data and Indicators
- Online Questionnaire about the Human Development Reports
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- OPHI Training for PEP survey teams from Nigeria, Chad and Sri Lanka
- Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data: First National Survey
- Links to OPHI
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
OPHI Updates
The OPHI Updates newsletter is published in PDF on this page, and in printed copies upon request.
OPHI Updates Dec 2007 [pdf]
- New multidimensional poverty measure
- Further Missing Dimensions: OPHI and CHEDS in Beijing, 3-4 November 2007
- Oxford Development Studies symposium
- Pilot surveys of Missing Dimensions
- Focus groups convened in Bolivia
- OPHI and PEP Network call for proposals
- Research grants offered to students
- 2008 two-week summer school
- What next for OPHI?
OPHI Updates June 2007 [pdf]
- What is OPHI?
- Amartya Sen helps launch new initiative
- Workshops on missing dimensions and multidimensional comparisons
- Public seminars mark OPHI launch
- What’s next for OPHI?
Research in Progress
This section includes documents that are discussion papers, policy papers or documents, or drafts of papers that will become OPHI working papers.
'Conceptual Overview of Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts.' Sabina Alkire (OPHI 15a December 2009). A draft background paper for the 2010 Human Development Report.
'Measuring group disadvantage with indices based on relative distributions.' Gaston Yalonetzky (OPHI RP 14a December 2009). This paper proposes a family of new indices which measure and are sensitive to inequality between pairs of groups whenever that inequality implies disadvantage for a group of concern. The indices are applied to quantify the degree of gender inequality across the missing dimensions of poverty in Chile, using the 2009 OPHI addendum to the CASEN 2006.
'The Pink Streak in a Grey Market: Queerness and Poverty in the Urban Philippines.' Ryan Thoreson (OPHI RP 13a December 2009). This paper undertakes an anthropological exploration of the Missing Dimensions among gay communities in the Philippines.
'Agencia de los padres y logros de los hijos: Explorando el caso de America Latina.' Maria Emma Santos, Emma Samman, Gaston Yalonetzky (OPHI RP 12a October 2009). This background paper, prepared for the 2009 Human Development Report in Latin America and the Caribbean, is the first effort to measure agency in the capital cities of three Latin American countries and explores the role of parents’ agency in reducing intergenerational transmission of ‘low outcomes’. (In Spanish).
'Child Poverty Measurement: An assessment of methods and an application to Bangladesh.' José Manuel Roche (OPHI RP11a September 2009). This paper applies Alkire and Foster’s (2007) methodology to the measurement of multidimensional child poverty using the 2006 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. It examines how this methodology can complement other measures of child poverty, and considers the implications of the results for policy makers.
'Agency and Empowerment:
A review of concepts, indicators and empirical evidence.' Emma Samman and Maria Emma Santos (OPHI RP10a August 2009). This review corresponds to the first part of a background paper for the 2009 Human Development Report in Latin America and the Caribbean on Agency, Empowerment and the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality in
'Testing for stochastic dominance among additive, multivariate welfare functions with discrete variable' Gaston Yalonetzky (OPHI RP9a June 2009). This paper shows how to expand already existing conditions of stochastic dominance for additive welfare functions and proposes a test for multiple discrete variables based on Anderson's (1996) nonparametric test.
‘The MDGs: Multidimensionality and Interconnection’. Sabina Alkire with James Foster (OPHI RP8a May 2009). A background paper to the UK White Paper on Development on ‘Eliminating Poverty’, which is under construction.
‘Determining BPL Status: Some Methodological Improvements’. Sabina Alkire and Suman Seth (OPHI RP7a, April 2009). A draft paper on the 2002 method for identifying Below the Poverty Line households in rural India, which argues that mis-targeting is significantly influenced by the measurement methodology, not only by corruption as has been supposed.
‘Multidimensional Measures of Poverty & Well-Being’. Sabina Alkire and Moizza Sarwar (OPHI RP6a, January 2009). A background paper for the European Commission Report, ‘An Agenda for a Reformed Cohesion Policy’, and surveys institutions that are implementing multidimensional measures.
‘Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index: Methodology and Results’. Sabina Alkire (OPHI RP5a, November 2008). An informal note on the Gross National Happiness Index that was released by the Centre of Bhutan Studies. For more information on the data and index in general please see the website http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com.
‘Gross National Happiness and Poverty in Bhutan: Applying the GNH Index Methodology to explore Poverty’. Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, and Karma Ura. (OPHI RP4a, November 2008). Paper presented at the Gross National Happiness Conference in Bhutan, at 26 November 2008, re-analyses pilot GNH data, using 'poverty' cutoffs rather than, as in the GNH Index, 'sufficiency' cutoffs.
‘Amartya Sen’. Sabina Alkire (OPHI RP3a, January 2008). Draft entry for the Edward Elgar Handbook of Ethics and Economics.
‘The Capability Approach to Quality of Life Measures’. Sabina Alkire. (OPHI RP2a, September 2008). A background paper for the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, instigated by President Sarkozy.
‘Counting and Multidimensional Poverty’. Sabina Alkire and James Foster (OPHI RP1a, October 2007). A non-technical policy-oriented summary of Working Paper 7 by Alkire and Foster, which was presented at the IFPRI meetings in Beijing, October 2007.
Other Publications
The published articles of OPHI researchers can be found on their people pages.
Special Issue: The Missing Dimensions of Poverty Data Guest Editor Emma Samman
Oxford Development Studies vol. 35, no. 4, December 2007
This special issue is based on the proceedings of OPHI’s launch in May 2007. It presents an introduction to the research theme; revised versions of the papers focusing on aspects of missing poverty data, with proposed indicators and questions to measure each; and the comments of discussants Grace Bediako, François Bourguignon and Stephan Klasen.
Textbook: An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach Freedom and Agency
Edited by Séverine Deneulin with Lila Shahani OPHI supported the development of this new textbook aimed at students in the social sciences and development practitioners. It provides an introduction to Amartya Sen’s human development and capability approach and also clarifies key concepts and fosters debate on a number of critical issues. The book offers new perspectives on a wide range of topics, which include the conceptualisation and measurement of well-being and inequality; the role of markets and economic growth in promoting development; the importance of democracy and public debate; culture and religion; health; equality and justice; and the connections between social and economic policy in addressing poverty and inequality. Sabina Alkire and Maria Emma Santos are contributing authors to the volume. Published August 2009, 336 pages.
Book Chapter: Counting and Multidimensional Poverty
by Sabina Alkire and James Foster
A non-technical, policy oriented summary of the Alkire and Foster method for measuring multidimensional poverty is now available to download as an e-chapter. The chapter explains why multidimensional measures are needed, the problem of complex poverty measures and goes on to describe the Alkire Foster measure, how to apply it, its properties and uses.
This chapter is published in: The Poorest and Hungry
Assessments, Analyses, and Actions: An International Food Policy Research Institute 2020 Book
Edited by Joachim von Braun, Ruth Vargas Hill and Rajul Padya-Lorch
The book seeks to lay out the major issues involved in realizing improvements in the welfare of the world’s poorest people, and is intended as a ‘recipe book’ of approaches and options for policy makers and practitioners and as a training and teaching resource for academics and researchers.
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