Sabina Alkire is the director of the
Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), an
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
research centre within the
Oxford Department of International Development
The Oxford Department of International Development (ODID), or Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), is a department of the University of Oxford in England, and a unit of the University’s Social Sciences Division. It is the focal point at Oxford for m ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, which was established in 2007. She is a fellow of the
Human Development and Capability Association
The Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) was launched in September 2004 at the Fourth Capability Conference in Pavia, Italy. It was founded to promote research from many disciplines on key problems including poverty, justice, well-be ...
.
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.
Alkire and fellow
OPHI member economist
James Foster developed the
Alkire Foster Method, a method of measuring multidimensional
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
. It includes identifying ‘who is poor’ by considering the range of deprivations they suffer, and aggregating that information to reflect societal poverty.
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.
Biography
Born in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, she left to the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
as a baby when her father took up a role teaching chemical engineering at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
. Alkire studied at the same university, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology.
Afterwards, Alkire moved to England and attended the University of Oxford, where she obtained a diploma of theology with a distinction in Islam in 1992.
[ Furthering her postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Alkire went on to receive a Master of Philosophy in Christian political ethics and a Master of Science in economics for development in 1994 and 1995, respectively.][ 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
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in economics from Magdalen College, University of Oxford in 1999.[ Her doctoral thesis, which demonstrated how the work of Indian economist and philosopher ]Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
could be coherently and practically put to use in poverty reduction activities, was later published as a monograph with the title ''Valuing Freedoms: Sen's Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction'' (2002).
From 1999 to 2001, Alkire worked as the coordinator for Culture and Poverty Learning-Research Program, World Bank, and PREM. 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
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.[ During her time there she won the Thulin Scholar of Religion and Contemporary Culture award from the ]University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
and was listed in Foreign Policy Magazine
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through m ...
"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
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
, in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
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
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, and is a distinguished research affiliate of the Kellogg Institute for International studies at the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
. Recently, as director of OPHI, Alkire has led research teams to aid with publications such a
"The real wealth of nations"
for the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report.
In May 2020, Alkire was awarded the Boris Mints Institute
The Boris Mints Institute at Tel Aviv University is an entity promoting research and planning, founded by Boris Mints, Dr Boris Mints.
The Boris Mints Institute was established in 2016 at the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, and has ...
Prize for Research of Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges for her contribution to the understanding of the dynamics and implications of poverty.
Alkire’s research interests include, multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis, welfare economics, the capability approach, and the measurement of freedoms and human development.[
]
Bibliography
Thesis
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Books
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Chapters in books
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Other publications
Human Development and Capability Association Briefing Note
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Agence Française de Développement and European Development Research Network (AFD-EUDN) Conference Paper
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Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Working Papers
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Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Research in Progress Papers
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Forthcoming
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See also
* Alkire Foster Method
* Feminist economics
Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practition ...
* List of feminist economists
This is an incomplete alphabetical list by surname of notable feminist economists, experts in the social science of feminist economics, past and present. Only economists with biographical articles in Wikipedia are listed here.
Feminist econo ...
* Multidimensional Poverty Index
Multidimensional Poverty Indices use a range of indicators to calculate a summary poverty figure for a given population, in which a larger figure indicates a higher level of poverty. This figure considers both the proportion of the population that ...
* Political philosophy
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
References
External links
Profile: Sabina Alkire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkire, Sabina
Academics of the University of Oxford
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
American political philosophers
Feminist economists
Living people
Elliott School of International Affairs faculty
Moral philosophers
Political philosophers
University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni
George Washington University faculty
Women political writers
1969 births