Analyzing multidimensional measures of poverty and their influences in China's Qinba Mountains

We use the Alkire-Foster poverty measure and decomposition method to study multidimensional poverty in the Qinling-Daba contiguous poor area of China's Henan Province. We examine absolute, relative, and multidimensional poverty focusing on heads of household and family characteristics as constituents of escaping each. We find that the multidimensional poverty index declines to a low level as values of k increase. Combining first-order random dominance with second-order stochastic dominance quickly determines rankings in the multidimensional poverty index. Increasing non-agricultural income emerges as the most important influence on escaping rural poverty, whereas households with elderly and children are at greatest risk for falling into poverty.