Monetary and Multidimensional Child Poverty: A Contradiction in Terms?

Abstract

Although the multidimensional nature of poverty is widely recognized, the extent to which monetary measures can serve as a proxy for non-monetary measures remains unresolved. This is of particular concern for children given their dependence on others for fulfilment of basic needs and assumptions about intra-household distribution that underpin monetary measures. This article adopts an innovative mixed-methods approach to investigate child poverty overlap and mismatch in the low- and middle-income countries of Ethiopia and Vietnam using secondary longitudinal survey data and primary qualitative data from adults and children. Findings indicate that monetary and multidimensional poverty are distinct constructs that are linked, but cannot serve as a proxy for one another. While the degree of dissonance depends on the types of indicators under consideration, poverty mismatch persists regardless of time, place and multidimensional measure under consideration.