Polarization of the Poor: Multivariate Relative Poverty Measurement Sans Frontiers

A major impediment to poverty evaluation in environments with a multiplicity of wellbeing indicators is the difficulty associated with formulating a poverty frontier in many dimensions. This paper proposes two multivariate relative polarization measures which, in appropriate circumstances, serve as multivariate poverty measures which do not require computation of a poverty frontier. As poverty measures they have the intuitive appeal of reflecting the degree to which poor and non‐poor societies are polarized. (The measures would also have considerable application in studying multivariate convergence issues in economic growth models.) The measures are exemplified in a poor–non‐poor country study over the period 1990–2005, based upon the joint distribution of per capita GNP and Life Expectancy. The results suggest that as a group, the world's poor are experiencing diminished poverty polarization; however, within the world's poor the African nations are experiencing increased poverty polarization.