Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/213095 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2017/206
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This paper provides practical tests for the robustness of multidimensional comparisons of well-being. Focussing on counting-type multidimensional poverty measures, I draw on the properties of positive Boolean threshold functions to prove that the space of feasible poverty definitions is finite and can be partitioned into at most (D2 +D)/2 parts, where D is the number of dimensions of well-being spanned by the measure. This provides the foundation for two complementary tests: (i) a bounding approach, which weights each dimension equally; and (ii) stochastic search, where coverage of the space of poverty definitions is assessed via Good-Turing estimates of missing mass. The two methods are applied to a measure encompassing nine dimensions of well-being in Mozambique, revealing persistent regional asymmetries.
Subjects: 
multidimensional poverty
pointwise dominance
robustness
Mozambique
JEL: 
I32
O55
C15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-432-2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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