Sabina Alkire Explained
Sabina Alkire is an American academic and Anglican priest, who is the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), an economic research centre within the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, England, which was established in 2007.[1] She is a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association.[2] She has worked with organizations such as the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the United Nations Human Development Programme Human Development Report Office, the European Commission, and the UK's Department for International Development.[3]
Alkire and fellow OPHI member economist James Foster developed the Alkire Foster Method, a method of measuring multidimensional poverty. It includes identifying ‘who is poor’ by considering the range of deprivations they suffer, and aggregating that information to reflect societal poverty.[4] The application and implementation of the Alkire-Foster (AF) method produced a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a tool to identify the range of poverty among a population based on specified indicators.[5]
Biography
Born in Göttingen, West Germany, she left to the United States of America as a baby when her father took up a role teaching chemical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.[6] Alkire studied at the same university, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and pre-medicine.[7] Afterwards, Alkire moved to England and attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where she obtained a diploma of theology with a distinction in Islam in 1992, then a Master of Philosophy in Christian political ethics and a Master of Science in economics for development in 1994 and 1995, respectively.[7] For her Master of Science thesis, "The Full or Minimally Decent Life: Empiricization of Sen’s Capabilities Approach in Poverty Measurement", she was awarded the George Webb Medley Graduate Prize by the university. Later, she gained her doctorate in economics from Magdalen College, University of Oxford in 1999.[7] Her doctoral thesis, which demonstrated how the work of Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen could be coherently and practically put to use in poverty reduction activities,[8] was later published as a monograph with the title Valuing Freedoms: Sen's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction (2002).[9]
From 1999 to 2001, Alkire worked as the coordinator for Culture and Poverty Learning-Research Program, PREM, World Bank. From 2001 to 2003, she moved on to working for the Commission on Human Security as a research writer. From 2003 to 2013 Alkire continued her career as a research associate at the Harvard Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University.[5] During her time there she won the Thulin Scholar of Religion and Contemporary Culture award from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was listed in Foreign Policy Magazine "100 global thinkers 2010".
She served as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor in International Affairs at the Elliott School at The George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. from 2015 until 2016. She currently holds positions as the director of OPHI, associate professor at the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, and is a distinguished research affiliate of the Kellogg Institute for International studies at the University of Notre Dame. Recently, as director of OPHI, Alkire has led research teams to aid with publications such as "The real wealth of nations",[10] for the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report.
In May 2020, Alkire was awarded the Boris Mints Institute Prize for Research of Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges for her contribution to the understanding of the dynamics and implications of poverty.[11] [12] [13] Alkire’s research interests include, multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis, welfare economics, the capability approach, and the measurement of freedoms and human development.[5]
Ordained ministry
Alkire was ordained in the Episcopal Church (United States) as a deacon in 2000 and as a priest in 2002. From 2000 to 2003, she was a non-stipendiary minister at St. Alban's Episcopal Church and St. Philip the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She then moved to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Boston, in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Having returned to England, she has been an honorary chaplain and chapel associate of Magdalen College, Oxford. In addition, from 2008 to 2019, she was a non-stipendiary minister in the benefice of Cowley St John in the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford; she continues as an associate priest.[14]
Bibliography
Thesis
- D.Phil. . Alkire . Sabina . 1998 . Operationalizing Amartya Sen's capability approach to human development: a framework for identifying valuable capabilities . . 43087376 .
Books
- Book: Alkire, Sabina . Valuing freedoms: Sen's capability approach and poverty reduction . Oxford University Press . Oxford New York . 2002 . 9780199245796 . Hardback.
- Book: Alkire, Sabina. Valuing freedoms: Sen's capability approach and poverty reduction. Oxford University Press. 2005. 9780199283316. Oxford New York. Paperback.
- Reviewed by Robeyns. Ingrid. Ingrid Robeyns. October 2003. Valuing freedoms: Sen's capability approach and poverty reduction, by Sabina Alkire. Economics and Philosophy. 19. 2. 371–377. 10.1017/S0266267103231229. 153529212.
- Book: Alkire. Sabina. The capability approach: concepts, measures and applications. Comim. Flavio. Qizilbash. Mozaffar. Cambridge University Press. 2008. 9780521154529. Cambridge etc.
- Book: Alkire. Sabina. GNH and the GNH Index: A short guide to gross national happiness index. Ura. Karma. Zangmo. Tshoki. Centre for Bhutan Studies. 2012. 9789993614661. Thimphu.
- Book: Alkire. Sabina. An extensive analysis of GNH index. Wangdi. Karma. Zangmo. Tshoki. Centre for Bhutan Studies. 2012. 9789993614678. Thimphu, Bhutan.
Chapters in books
2000–2004
2005–2009
2010 onwards
Journal articles
1990–1999
2000–2009
- Alkire. Sabina. 2002. A conceptual framework for human security - working paper no. 2. Center for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), Queen Elizabeth House. 2014-04-17. 2014-04-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20140418234642/http://economics.ouls.ox.ac.uk/13003/1/workingpaper2.pdf. dead.
- Alkire. Sabina. February 2002. Dimensions of human development. World Development. 30. 2. 181–205. 10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00109-7.
- Alkire. Sabina. Chen. Lincoln. September 2004. Global health and moral values. The Lancet. 364. 9439. 1069–1074. 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17063-3. 7123313. 15380967.
- Alkire. Sabina. 2005. Why the capability approach?. Journal of Human Development. 6. 1. 115–135. 10.1080/146498805200034275. 15074994.
- Alkire. Sabina. October 2005. Subjective quantitative studies of human agency. Social Indicators Research. 74. 1. 217–260. 10.1007/s11205-005-6525-0. 145398750.
- Alkire. Sabina. 2007. The missing dimensions of poverty data: introduction to the special issue. Oxford Development Studies. 35. 4. 347–359. 10.1.1.383.5895. 10.1080/13600810701701863. 154117584.
- Alkire. Sabina. Ibrahim. Solava. 2007. Agency and empowerment: a proposal for internationally comparable indicators. Oxford Development Studies. 35. 4. 379–403. 10.1080/13600810701701897. 17256768.
- Alkire. Sabina. Seth. Suman. July 2008. Determining BPL status: some methodological improvements. Indian Journal of Human Development. 2. 2. 407–424. 10.1177/0973703020080207. 154512070.
- Alkire. Sabina. Xiaolin. Wang. 2009. Measurement of multidimensional poverty in China: estimations and policy implications. Chinese Rural Economy. 12. 4–10.
2010 onwards
- Alkire. Sabina. Foster. James. August 2011. Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement. Journal of Public Economics. 95. 7–8. 476–487. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.006. 6113312.
- Alkire. Sabina. Foster. James. June 2011. Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement. Journal of Economic Inequality. 9. 2. 289–314. 10.1.1.358.645. 10.1007/s10888-011-9181-4. 1219162.
- Alkire. Sabina. Foster. James. Santos. Maria E. September 2011. Where did identification go?. Journal of Economic Inequality. 9. 3. 501–505. 10.1007/s10888-011-9201-4. free. 11336/102359. free.
- Alkire. Sabina. Santos. Maria E. June 2013. A multidimensional approach: poverty measurement and beyond. Social Indicators Research. 112. 2. 239–257. 10.1007/s11205-013-0257-3. free. 11336/2002. free.
- Alkire. Sabina. Seth. Suman. June 2013. Selecting a targeting method to identify BPL households in India. Social Indicators Research. 112. 2. 417–446. 10.1007/s11205-013-0254-6. 16061965.
- Alkire. Sabina. Seth. Suman. 12 January 2013. Identifying BPL households: a comparison of methods. Economic and Political Weekly. 48. 2. 49–57.
- Alkire. Sabina. Meinzen-Dick. Ruth. Peterman. Amber. Quisumbing. Agnes. Seymour. Greg. Vaz. Ana. December 2013. The women's empowerment in agriculture index. World Development. 52. 71–91. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.06.007. free. 10535/8724.
- Alkire. Sabina. July 2014. Measuring acute poverty in the developing world: robustness and scope of the multidimensional poverty index. World Development. 59. 251–274. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.01.026. 11336/2085. free.
- Alkire. Sabina. Vaz. Ana. Pratley. Pierre. January 2016. Measuring women's autonomy in Chad using the Relative Autonomy Index. Feminist Economics. 22. 1. 264–294. 10.1080/13545701.2015.1108991. 154561813.
Other publications
Human Development and Capability Association Briefing Note
Agence Française de Développement and European Development Research Network (AFD-EUDN) Conference Paper
Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Working Papers
Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Research in Progress Papers
Forthcoming
- Book: Alkire. Sabina. Multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis: a counting approach. Ballon. Paola. Foster. James. Roche. José Manuel. Santos. Maria Emma. Seth. Suman. Oxford University Press. 2014. Oxford.
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Sabina Alkire . ophi.org.uk . Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative . 17 April 2014 .
- Web site: HDCA fellows. hd-ca.org. Human Development and Capability Association. 17 April 2014.
- "Dr Sabina Alkire". www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/find-an-expert/dr-sabina-alkire Retrieved 21 April 2019
- Web site: Alkire Foster Method. ophi.org.uk. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative. 3 August 2014.
- Web site: Dr Sabina Alkire. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative. 24 November 2021.
- Web site: Wheatley . Alan . True Calling . . FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, September 2015, Vol. 52, No. 3 . 26 March 2021.
- Web site: Sabina Alkire. ophi.org.uk. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). 17 April 2014.
- D.Phil. . Alkire . Sabina . 1998 . Operationalizing Amartya Sen's capability approach to human development: a framework for identifying valuable capabilities . . 43087376 .
- Book: Alkire, Sabina . Valuing freedoms: Sen's capability approach and poverty reduction . Oxford University Press . Oxford New York . 2002 . 9780199245796 .
- Web site: The real wealth of nations - Sustainable Goals Kellogg Institute For International Studies. 2021-12-07. kellogg.nd.edu.
- Web site: 2020-05-29. History tells us pandemic could lead to global reduction in poverty, Oxford academic says. 2020-08-07. The Independent. en.
- Web site: Sabina Alkire and the Boris Mints Institute Prize. 2020-08-07. The Jerusalem Post JPost.com. 27 May 2020 .
- Web site: How will COVID-19 impact global poverty? Live event on JPost.com. 2020-08-07. The Jerusalem Post JPost.com. 14 May 2020 .
- Web site: Meet the Team . Cowley St John . 3 February 2024.