30 May 07

A new breed of economists at the new Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute (OPHI), which launches on 30 May, has rejected the idea that increasing national income is a sufficient indicator of its population's overall prospects. In addition to health, education, and nutrition, they believe that people's safety, decent work, empowerment,and self-respect should be measured, monitored and improved just as much as traditional economic indicators such as growth. Their challenge is to do so accurately and effectively.

OPHI's new Director, Dr Sabina Alkire, led a project in Kerala, India, which measured the constraints on poor women's freedom, ranging from controlling husbands or parents through to social disapproval.

Dr Alkire said: 'OPHI's research will draw together insights from many poverty researchers, to shape a multidimensional economic framework for reducing poverty grounded in people's experiences and values.'

OPHI's work draws on the writings of Indian Nobel Laureate economist, Professor Amartya Sen, who marked the opening of the centre with a University lecture 'What theory of justice?' at the Sheldonian Theatre. Professor Sen, together with Oxford economists Professor Sudhir Anand and Professor Tony Atkinson, advises OPHI.

Oxford University Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Hood, said: 'Oxford prides itself on excellent scholarship, as its work in development and international economics exemplifies. OPHI's research agenda promises to continue that tradition and to make its scholarship relevant to those most in need.'

As part of the launch event, OPHI is also staging four days of seminars involving, among others, the Chief Economist of the World Bank, François Bourguignon; Professor Amartya Sen; and Nobel Laureate Professor Michael Spence, Chair of the Commission on Growth and Development.

OPHI is a research centre within the Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, and part of an international research network with centres at Harvard, Beijing, and Pavia, Italy.