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In this paper, we perform estimates of vulnerability to multidimensional poverty for 17 Latin American countries at three points of time: 2005/2006, 2012, and 2017. We use a Multidimensional Bayesian Network Classifier model to estimate the conditional probability of being multidimensionally poor and then we use these probabilities and the standard downside semi‐deviation as the risk parameter to identify the vulnerable households. Despite significant reductions over the study period, in 2017 approximately 150 million people—excluding Guatemala, Nicaragua and Venezuela for which we do not have recent data—remained vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. We also observe that vulnerability to poverty is reduced at a much slower rate than poverty itself, revealing that achievements in SDG1 can be quite fragile. We perform a decomposition and find that as poverty decreases, risk‐induced vulnerability becomes relatively more important than poverty‐induced vulnerability. However, the poor‐vulnerable still constitute the core vulnerability group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We recently proposed a Multidimensional Poverty Index for the Latin America (MPI-LA) region implementing a broadly used methodology developed by Sabina Alkire and James Foster. The present note is a response to Hector Najera and David Gordon's paper (published in this volume), in which they claim that the MPI-AL is an 'unreliable measure of poverty' because it does not pass some statistical tests that they consider applicable to multidimensional poverty measurement. In this note we address each of their critiques in turn and explain why Najera and Gordon's claim is not correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new Multidimensional Poverty Index for Latin America. The index combines monetary and non‐monetary indicators, updates deprivation cut‐offs for certain traditional unsatisfied basic needs indicators and includes some new indicators, aiming to maximize regional comparability within the data constraints. The index is estimated for 17 countries of the region at two points in time—one around 2005 and the other around 2012. Overall, we estimate about 28 percent of people are multidimensionally poor in 2012 in the region. We find statistically significant reductions of poverty in most countries, both in terms of incidence and intensity over the period under analysis. However, important disparities between rural and urban areas remain. Statistical scrutiny of the index suggests that it captures the state of poverty relatively well while maintaining a certain parsimony and being highly robust to changes in weights, indicators, and poverty cut‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artigo analisa a experiência de cinco programas de transferências monetárias condicionadas na América Latina que objetivam reduzir a pobreza e fomentar o capital humano em educação, saúde e nutrição. Estes programas inovadores podem contribuir ao logro dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio, e alguns chegaram a ser componentes fundamentais das políticas antipobreza de seus respectivos países. Neste artigo apresentam-se em primeiro lugar alguns conceitos que fundamentam a adoção dos programas de transferências condicionadas. A seguir, são examinadas as seguintes experiências: Programa Bolsa Escola e Programa para a Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil (Brasil); Famílias en Acción (Colómbia); Red de Protección Social (Nicarágua) e Programa Oportunidades (México), analisando seus objetivos, componentes, mecanismos de focalização, impactos e eficiência. Finalmente, se propõem recomendações de política e se identificam elementos de formulação que poderiam constituir boas práticas ao momento de adotar este tipo de programa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]