Measuring Chronic Multidimensional Poverty: A Counting Approach

Abstract

How can indices of multidimensional poverty be adapted to produce measures that quantify both the
\njoint incidence of multiple deprivations and their chronicity? This paper adopts a new approach to the
\nmeasurement of chronic multidimensional poverty. It relies on the counting approach of Alkire and
\nFoster (2011) for the measurement of multidimensional poverty in each time period and then on the
\nduration approach of Foster (2009) for the measurement of multidimensional poverty persistence across
\ntime. The proposed indices are sensitive both to (i) the share of dimensions in which people are deprived
\nand (ii) the duration of their multidimensional poverty experience. A related set of indices is also
\nproposed to measure transient poverty. The behaviour of the proposed two families is analysed using a
\nrelevant set of axioms. An empirical illustration is provided with a Chilean panel dataset spanning the
\nperiod from 1996 to 2006.