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ABSTRACT
This study investigates the poverty status of the households in a multidimensional perspective by selecting relevant capabilities. A multidimensional index will be constituted by using the methodology of Alkire and Foster (2009) with the inclusion of three main dimensions that are education and health, economic condition and assets, and dwelling and living conditions. Alkire and Foster's methodology is considerably important in literature of poverty measurement that it focuses the actual deprivations of the households. The research primarily concentrates to Turkish households and it then will interest with the NUTS-1 regions of Turkey to understand the regional difference between households. Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has provided cross-sectional data of income and living conditions of the households since 2006 and the study will use this data set for 2010 to constitute multidimensional poverty index. Initial analyses have found that multidimensional approach to poverty measurement is far more comprehensive than the traditional methods and there are significant differences between regions of Turkey in a multidimensional perspective.
Keywords: Alkire-Foster methodogy, multidimensional poverty, poverty status, regions
1.INTRODUCTION
Poverty is a complex concept in its nature. In most of the studies, poverty is generally described in different senses such as income or expenditure poverty, lack of basic needs, relative deprivation, lack of capabilities and functionings, social exclusion, human underdevelopment or vulnerability. Thus, it does not cover any universal description. Maxwell (1999) also notes that there is no single right definition of poverty. But, one can presume the approach of the researcher with the measurement exercise of poverty. However, poverty measurement is far more difficult. Until 1970s, poverty is defined as an economic term and measured mostly based on the level of minimum income. The emergence of non-monetary indicators in the mid-1970s, with basic needs approach, expanded the meaning of development and poverty. However, main progress occurred as a result of Amartya Sen's works on capability approach, which defines poverty as "the failure of basic capabilities to reach certain minimally acceptable levels" (Sen, 1992), so there is a growing concern for a new methodology to measure poverty in current studies. As Sen (1976) noted, there are two distinct problems on measuring poverty. The first one concerns the identification of the poor and the second involves a selection of an aggregation...