Poverty, Inequality and Well-being
Researchers of German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) provided new insights on the building of indices of poverty and inequality and the selection of poverty dimensions. In particular, research at DIE has produced the “Correlation Sensitive Poverty Index” (CSPI) which, in contrast to UNDP’s “Multidimensional Poverty Index” (MPI), accounts for inequality as well as correlations between poverty dimensions; and a pro-poor growth index that measures whether the poor disproportionately benefit from growth by using the distributional component of changes in the poverty gap. Thus, this project contributes to a better measurement of poverty, inequality and well-being, thereby bridging theory, statistical rigour and political legitimacy.
Project Lead:
Nicole Rippin
Project Team:
Tilman Altenburg
Francesco Burchi
Markus Loewe
Mario Negre
Malerba, Daniele
Nicole Rippin
Financing:
German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
Time frame:
2010 - 2020
/
completed
Co-operation Partner:
Department of Development Economics, University of Göttingen; Department of Economics, Roma Tre University; World Bank’s Development Research Group on concepts and operationalization of pro-poor growth
Project description
Amartya Sen's Nobel Prize-winning capability approach revolutionised the way we conceptualise and thus measure well-being and poverty. Within this conceptual framework, well-being and poverty are not conceived as unidimensional phenomena and analysed in terms of possession or lack of income (or consumption). In fact, the income approach has increasingly been criticised as especially the poor have often little opportunity to monetarily satisfy their needs, in particular when it comes to public goods like health or education. Sen’s approach tries to overcome this problem by focusing directly on capabilities, i.e. what people are able to do and be. In order to extract relevant well-being dimensions within a society, DIE researchers have recently developed the “Constitutional Approach”. As this method builds on national Constitutions – when they meet certain criteria – the resulting dimensions are more likely to be accepted by the society and employed by policy-makers. At the same time, Amartya Sen stressed the importance of considering inequality for measurement purposes. Yet, inequality is not or not sufficiently accounted for in some of the most influential measures of poverty and pro-poor growth. The UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), an index rooted in the capability approach, is a good example of this as it does not account for inequality - nor for the fact that correlations exist between poverty dimensions. DIE’s response to overcome these weaknesses, is Rippin’s Correlation Sensitive Poverty Index (CSPI), which satisfies the valuable properties of the MPI but in addition accounts for inequality as well as the correlations between poverty dimensions. Another example for the insufficient consideration of inequality can be seen in the pro-poor growth debate. Growth that reduces poverty is often considered pro-poor, regardless of whether the poor benefit from it more than the non-poor. DIE research in collaboration with the World Bank has led to the development of a pro-poor growth index that considers growth to be pro-poor only when it disproportionally benefits those under the poverty line. The index focuses on how changes in the distribution affect the poverty gap and, improving on previous methodologies, allows for an assessment on whether growth has been pro-poor and by how much over a given spell.
Here are some of the research questions that are addressed within this project:
1. How should poverty be measured in the future? How do extent and shape of global poverty change according to different poverty measures? What are the policy implications?
2. How can well-being and poverty dimensions be better selected? And which weights should they receive? How could future household surveys be modified in order to be able to capture the main missing dimensions? How should survey questions be formulated in order to be able to provide not only information about achieved functionings, like being well-nourished, but also capabilities, i.e. the ability to be well-nourished?
3. In light of the current debate on Post-2015, the capability approach offers a unique framework to measure and analyse well-being and poverty in high- as well as in low-income countries. What are the specific choices a researcher has to make to measure these phenomena in affluent societies? What can we learn from the experience of much more advanced data sets like the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) with regard to the inclusion of missing dimensions, choice of indicators and the formulation of capability questions? How does poverty look like in OECD countries like Germany and Italy? What are the main differences with regard to developing countries?
4. When looking at the income dimension, how did countries perform in terms of translating growth into poverty reduction through a growth that is pro-poor? How do results correlate with other dimensions and macroeconomic indicators so as to shed light on the determinants of such a progressive transformation? How good a measure can the new pro-poor growth index be as a tool for performance evaluation, progress monitoring and goal setting? Is it possible to expand this income/consumption based methodology to the multidimensional approach?
5. From a pro-poor perspective, and given the German-supported World Bank goal of bringing global extreme poverty down to 3% by 2030, what kind of structural transformation will countries need to undertake to provide the necessary changes in income distribution that will be required given the inherent uncertainty of growth episodes, particularly at a time of increasing environmental limitation to business as usual? How does this relate to the shared prosperity discourse that focuses on growth of the 40 bottom percent of the income distribution?
Publications
-
Transforming our world, achieving a sustainable development model: the 2030 Agenda and the EU
With contributions by Roberto Bissio / Carles Casajuana / Koen De Feyter / Lelio Iapadre / Markus Loewe / Fabiana Maglio / Annalisa Prizzon / Liliana Rodrigues / Sahar T. Rad (2017)
in: Conny Reuter / Ernst Stetter (eds.), Progressive lab for sustainable development: from vision to action, Brussels: Foundation for European Progressives Studies / SOLIDAR / Group of the progressive alliance of the Socialist and Democrats in the European Parliament, 15-29 -
A review of the literature on well-being in Italy: a human development perspective
Burchi, Francesco / Chiara Gnesi (2016)
in: Forum for Social Economics 45 (2-3), 170-192 -
Measuring human development in a high-income country: a conceptual framework for well-being indicators
Burchi, Francesco / Pasquale De Muro (2016)
in: Forum for Social Economics 45 (2-3), 120-138 -
Multidimensional poverty in Germany: a capability approach
Rippin, Nicole (2015)
Forum for Social Economics (Special Issue: Capability Approach and Multidimensional Well-being in High-income Countries) DOI: 10.1080/07360932.2014.995199 -
Translating an ambitious vision into global transformation: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development
Loewe, Markus / Nicole Rippin (eds.) (2015)
Discussion Paper 7/2015 -
Die Millenium Developement Goals: 15 Jahre Erfahrung mit einem internationalen Zielsystem
Loewe, Markus (2015)
in: Adrian Amelung / Carina Fugger (Hrsg.), Entwicklungspolitik auf dem Prüfstand: Stellschrauben für Post-2015 Development Goals, Köln: Institut für Wirtschaftspolitik an der Universität zu Köln, 15-20 -
An appropriate approach: interview with Markus Loewe
Loewe, Markus (2015)
in: Development and Co-operation (D+C) 42 (8), 18-20 -
Safety nets: an underresearched topic
Loewe, Markus (2015)
in: Development and Co-operation (D+C) 42 (9), 36 -
Post 2015: eine Chance für soziale und ökologische Entwicklung
Loewe, Markus / Carmen Richerzhagen (2014)
in: Jahresbericht 2013-2014: 50 Jahre Brücken bauen zwischen Theorie und Praxis, Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 36-39 -
千年发展目标与可持续发展目标 ——人类发展目标同全球公共产品目标的结合? [Millennium Plus oder Sustainable Development Goals: Wie lassen sich Ziele der menschlichen Entwicklung mit Zielen für globale öffentliche Güter miteinander kombinieren?]
Loewe, Markus (2015)
in: Thomas Fues / Jiang Ye (eds.), 联合国2015年后全球发展议程研究——中国与欧洲的视角 [The United Nations post-2015 agenda for global development: perspectives from China and Europe], Shanghai, 143-163 -
Millennium Plus or Sustainable Development Goals: how to combine human development objectives with targets for Global Public Goods?
Loewe, Markus (2014)
in: Global Review 2/2014 -
MDGs and SDGs: are the concepts compatible?
Loewe, Markus (2014)
in: Global Compact International Yearbook 2014, 10-15 -
World development agenda after 2015: merging human with sustainable development
Loewe, Markus (2014)
published on The Diplomatist (India) 8/2014 -
Which dimensions should matter for capabilities?A constitutional approach
Burchi, Francesco / Pasquale De Muro / Eszter Kollar (2014)
in: Ethics and Social Welfare 8 (3), 233-247 -
Children’s multidimensional health and medium-run cognitive skills in low- and middle-income countries
Burchi, Francesco (2014)
Oxford Univ.: Young Lives (Working Paper 129) -
Stop distributional injustice - do it now!
Rippin, Nicole (2014)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 30 September 2014) -
Inequality in the monetary and functionings spaces: the case of Peru under the first Garcia government (1985-1990)
Burchi, Francesco / Andrea Passacantilli (2013)
in: Journal of International Development 25 (3), 340–361 -
A review of the literature on well-being in Italy: a human development perspective
Burchi, Francesco / Chiara Gnesi (2013)
Roma Tre University (Departmental Working Paper of Economics 175) -
Considerations of efficiency and distributive justice in multidimensional poverty measurement
Rippin, Nicole (2013)
Göttingen, Univ., Diss. -
Progress, prospects and lessons from the MDGs
Rippin, Nicole (2013)
(Background Research Paper for the Report of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda) -
Universal agenda on the multiple dimensions of poverty
Pogge, Thomas / Nicole Rippin (2013)
(Background Research Paper for the Report of the High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda) -
Sustainability goals – also for Germany!
Rippin, Nicole (2013)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 26 September 2013) -
Leave No One Behind! Mobilisation attempt for the taboo subject of inequality
Rippin, Nicole (2013)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 9 September 2013) -
Globale Armutsstrukturen im Wandel
Loewe, Markus / Nicole Rippin (2012)
Analysen und Stellungnahmen 7/2012 -
Changing global patterns of poverty
Loewe, Markus / Nicole Rippin (2012)
Briefing Paper 3/2012 -
Kann die Europäische Union Ungleichheit in Entwicklungsländern bekämpfen?
Furness, Mark / Mario Negre (2012)
Analysen und Stellungnahmen 17/2012 -
Can the EU confront inequality in developing countries?
Furness, Mark / Mario Negre (2012)
Briefing Paper 14/2012 -
Thought for Europe Day 2012: why can’t EU development policy address inequality?
Negre, Mario / Mark Furness (2012)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 7 May 2012) -
Distributional justice and efficiency: integrating inequality within and between dimensions in additive poverty indice
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
Göttingen: Univ. Göttingen (CRC-PEG Discussion Paper 128) -
Operationalising the capability approach: a multidimensional correlation sensitive poverty index for Germany
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
(CRC-PEG Discussion Paper 132) -
Poverty in welfare state Germany: myth or reality?
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 12 November 2012) -
Wachstum für alle?
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 62 (27/28), 45-51 -
Global poverty halved since 1990, says World Bank – really?
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 19 March 2012 ) -
Was ist Armut? Der Correlation Sensitive Poverty Index (CSPI)
Rippin, Nicole (2012)
in: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) , Jahresbericht 2011-2012: Brücken bauen zwischen Theorie und Praxis, 24-27 -
A response to the weaknesses of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): the correlation Sensitive Poverty Index (CSPI)
Rippin, Nicole (2011)
Briefing Paper 19/2011 -
Entwicklungspolitik, Armutsbekämpfung und Millennium Dvelopment Goals
Loewe, Markus (2010)
in: Jörg Faust / Susanne Neubert (Hrsg.), Wirksamere Entwicklungspolitik: Befunde, Reformen, Instrumente (Entwicklungstheorie und Entwicklungspolitik 8), Baden-Baden: Nomos Verl.-Ges., 101–135 -
Pro-poor growth: concepts and operationalisation; case ctudy: Honduras
Negre, Mario (2010)
World Institute for Development Economics Research (Working Paper 47) -
Poverty severity in a multidimensional framework: the issue of inequality between dimensions
Rippin, Nicole (2010)
Göttingen: Courant Research Centre 'Poverty, Equity and Growth' (Discussion Papers 147) -
Kampf der Armut
Rippin, Nicole (2008)
in: Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit 49 (4), 160-161 -
Wissenschaftler diskutieren "Pro-Poor-Growth"
Rippin, Nicole (2008)
in: E+Z Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit 4/2008, 160-161 -
Can the EU help developing countries fight inequality?
Furness, Mark / Mario Negre (2012)
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) (The Current Column of 8 October 2012 ) -
Indian economy in the era of contemporary globalisation: some core elements of the balance sheet
Jha, Praveen / Mario Negre (2007)
Economic Research Foundation -
Verteilungsgerechtigkeit in der Armutsmessung
Rippin, Nicole (2015)
in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 65 (10), 47-54