Deprivations Rarely Come Alone. Multidimensional Poverty Dynamics in Europe

This article proposes a framework to analyse micro‐level dynamics inherent to multidimensional poverty measures. Specifically, I use differences in deprivation transition probabilities between multidimensionally poor and nonpoor people, to analyse how deprivations couple over time. Advantages of this approach include that it (i) summarises relevant mechanisms, (ii) requires only short‐run panel data and (iii) is suitable for monitoring purposes. Using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) for 20+ countries over 2016–2020, I find that deprivations tend to couple over time. Implications include that coordinated policy programmes seem critical to overcome entrenched and prevent future deprivations.