Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 8 – Robustness Analysis and Statistical Inference

Alkire, S., Foster, J. E., Seth, S., Santos, M. E., Roche, J. M., and Ballon, P. (2015). Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ch. 8.

32 Pages Posted: 12 Mar 2015

See all articles by Sabina Alkire

Sabina Alkire

Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative

James E. Foster

George Washington University

Suman Seth

University of Oxford - Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative; University of Leeds - Economics Division; University of Leeds - Faculty of Business

Maria Emma Santos

CONICET-UNS/IIESS and OPHI

Jose Roche

Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative

Paola Ballon

University of Oxford; Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

Date Written: January 31, 2015

Abstract

The design of a poverty measure involves the selection of a set of parameters and poverty figures. In most cases the measures are estimated from sample surveys. This raises the question of how conclusive particular poverty comparisons are subject to both the set of selected parameters (or variations within a plausible range) and the sample datasets. This chapter shows how to apply dominance and rank robustness tests to assess comparisons as poverty cutoffs and other parameters changes. It presents ingredients of statistical inference, including standard errors, confidence intervals, and hypothesis tests. And it discusses how robustness and statistical inference tools can be used together to assert concrete policy conclusions. An appendix presents methods for computing standard errors, including the bootstrapped standard errors.

Keywords: robustness analysis, statistical inference, dominance analysis, rank robustness, standard errors, bootstrap

JEL Classification: C10, C12, I32

Suggested Citation

Alkire, Sabina and Foster, James E. and Seth, Suman and Santos, Maria Emma and Roche, Jose and Ballon, Paola, Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 8 – Robustness Analysis and Statistical Inference (January 31, 2015). Alkire, S., Foster, J. E., Seth, S., Santos, M. E., Roche, J. M., and Ballon, P. (2015). Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ch. 8., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2575964

Sabina Alkire

Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative ( email )

Queen Elizabeth House
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

James E. Foster

George Washington University ( email )

2121 I Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States

Suman Seth

University of Oxford - Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative

3 Mansfield Road
Queen Elizabeth House
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3TB
United Kingdom
+44 1865 618643 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://ophi.org.uk/about/people/research-associates-and-advisors/suman-seth/

University of Leeds - Economics Division ( email )

Leeds LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
+44(0)1133432629 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://business.leeds.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/profile/suman-seth/

University of Leeds - Faculty of Business ( email )

Leeds LS2 9JT
United Kingdom

Maria Emma Santos

CONICET-UNS/IIESS and OPHI ( email )

12 de Octubre y San Juan
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires 8000
Argentina

Jose Roche

Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative ( email )

Queen Elizabeth House (QEH)
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

Paola Ballon (Contact Author)

University of Oxford ( email )

South Parks Road
Oxford, Oxforshire OX1 3QY
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://oxford.academia.edu/PaolaBallon

Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative ( email )

University of Oxford
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX1 3TB
United Kingdom

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