There has been a first-class debate on various blogs on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), including here, in this blog. Here’s a brief round-up:
- First post by Duncan Green of Oxfam
- A critique by Martin Ravallion, World Bank research director and poverty measurement guru
- A defense by one of the index’s co-creators, Sabina Alkire, with
- My two cents, and among the many excellent comments:
- One from Gonzalo Hernández, who worked on Mexico’s MPI
- A response from James Foster, co-creator of the index known to development economists as one of the masterminds behind the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty indices
Also check out additional reflections on the MPI from Laura Freschi at Aid Watch, Matt at Aid Thoughts, and at Roving Bandit, several post by Lee (with whom I shared Ethiopian food in Nairobi last week.)
This is probably the best online debate of all time on poverty measurement! It’s particularly exciting because as I said in my post this is very much a live debate within the World Bank. What do you think? How is the MPI perceived in your country? Should World Bank poverty economists calculate and promote the MPI?
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