Paper short abstract:

In this paper, an attempt is made to construct an individual-based Multidimensional Poverty Measure for Nicaragua, to assess whether there is a significant gap between male and female multidimensional poverty in this country, and to find out what is driving the gap.

Paper long abstract:

There is a widespread consensus that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and its measurement should not be relied exclusively on income or consumption expenditures per capita as the monetary (or traditional) approach does. Since the pioneering works of Kai-yuen Tsui (2002) and François Bourguignon and Satya Chakravarty (2003), a number of multidimensional poverty measures have been put forward, including the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (Global-MPI), but the vast majority of these measures use the household as unit of analysis, which means that they assume equal distribution of resources and externalities within the household and equate poverty status of the household with the poverty status of all the household members. This contrasts, however, with the long-standing literature on intra-household bargaining, with the extensive knowledge of that poverty is experienced differently by men and women, and ignores the different preferences and needs of the household members. Gender equality is, on the other hand, at the center of the post-2015 development agenda. In order to track the progress in achieving this goal, in a proper way, new measures able to capture the gender differences are needed. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt is made to derive this kind of measure. The paper has three goals: (1) to propose a new individual-based Multidimensional Poverty Index for Nicaragua, (2) to assess whether there is a significant gap between male and female multidimensional poverty in this country, and (3) to find out what is driving the gap.