How to Integrate Macro and Micro Perspectives: An Example on Human Development and Multidimensional Poverty

When designing indicators of well being attention is focused on its multidimensionality and on aggregation across different dimensions. However, two other aspects need consideration: distribution of each indicator within its dimension (inequality) and joint distribution of individual achievements or—viceversa—of deprivations. Aim of this paper is to suggest a correction to the composite well-being index; correction that takes into account some aspects concerning the joint micro distribution of achievements across dimensions. As an example we correct the human development index by means of the multidimensional poverty index.