• Talk 1: Social rights and poverty measurement: A review of the ten years of the Mexican experience (Professor Fernando Cortés)
• Talk 2: A critical review of axiomatic approaches and multidimensional indices (Dr Curtis Huffman)
• Talk 3: Consensual method and relative deprivation around the globe (Dr Shailen Nandy)

View a YouTube video of the talks (for timings of specific talks and translations see the YouTube video description).

Talk 1: Social rights and poverty measurement: A review of the ten years of the Mexican experience

Professor Fernando Cortés (UNAM, Mexico)

This seminar session covers the following topics:

• The legal and institutional conditions within which the multidimensional measurement of poverty in Mexico was designed. These two are the bases, from a rights perspective, to establish the dimensions of the index, the levels of aggregation and the periodicity with which the results must be published.
• The process of consulting the academy, the population and government officials for the selection of the indicators.
• The different criteria used to determine thresholds.
• The methodology differentiates two domains: welfare and social rights. For both are different nature, the measure has a two-dimensional structure. The talk also presents the theoretical and logical arguments that support the index of social deprivation/rights and the definitions of multidimensional and multidimensional extreme poverty.
• The presentation ends by looking at some examples that give substance to the abstract definitions, and with the presentation of the results of poverty measurements, carried out every two years, between 2008 and 2020

Course materials

Social rights and poverty measurement (Professor Fernando Cortés) (PDF, 3,152kB)

Multidimensional-Measurement-of-poverty-in-Mexico (PDF, 1,090kB)

CONEVAL-MEX_Brief_Methodology-for-Multidimensional-Poverty-Measurement__SEP10 (PDF, 173kB)

CONEVAL-MEX_Methodology-for-Multidimensional-Poverty-Measurement_SEP10 (PDF, 370kB)

Key readings and speaker biography

See page 16 of Advanced Poverty Research Methods Online Course - Programme (PDF, 673kB)

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Talk 2: A critical review of axiomatic approaches and multidimensional indices 

Dr Curtis Huffman (UNAM, Mexico)

There seems to be some degree of confusion nowadays regarding what is meant by measurement in poverty research, as witnessed by recent exchanges in the field.  It is obvious from these exchanges that different notions of central terms in the debate are being held (dimensionality, observability, model, replicability) to the detriment of understanding.  In this talk we draw on the Epistemology of Measurement to bridge this conceptual gap.

Course materials

‌A critical review of axiomatic approaches... (Curtis Huffman) (PDF, 1,671kB)

Key readings and speaker biography

See page 17 of Advanced Poverty Research Methods Online Course - Programme (PDF, 673kB)

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Talk 3: Consensual method and relative deprivation around the globe 

Dr Shailen Nandy (Cardiff University, UK)

Earlier sessions set out and explain the theory of relative deprivation and its importance for the assessment of poverty.  This session builds on these, to explain how the theory has been operationalised by researchers in developing the Consensual Approach for assessing multidimensional poverty.  The approach relies on agreement among the public to determine what constitutes an acceptable living standard and to identify whether an ‘enforced lack’ of socially perceived necessities is prevalent.  Importantly, the approach allows for age-relevant indicators of deprivation to reflect the needs of children and older people, making it an effective means for reporting on progress towards the first Sustainable Development Goal.  The Consensual Approach has been used successfully across high, middle, and low- income country settings, as shown by the readings below.

Course materials

Consensual Poverty around the Globe (Shailen Nandy) (PDF, 511kB)

El enfoque consensuado de la medición de la pobreza (Shailen Nandy) (PDF, 491kB)

Key readings and speaker biography

See pages 18-19 of Advanced Poverty Research Methods Online Course - Programme (PDF, 673kB)