Ordinal Comparison of Multidimensional Deprivation: theory and application

This paper develops an ordinal method of comparison of multidimensional inequality. In our model, population distribution g is more unequal than f when the distributions have common median and can be obtained from f by one or more shifts in population density that increase inequality. For our benchmark 2x2 case (i.e. the case of two binary outcome variables), we derive an empirical method for making inequality comparisons. As an illustration, we apply the model to childhood poverty in Mozambique.