A fuzzy approach to multidimensional material deprivation measurement: the case of foreigners living in Italy

Abstract

This paper provides a new approach to the measurement of multidimensional material deprivation, based on partial order theory and on fuzzy set measurement. The main feature of the methodology is that the information needed for the deprivation assessment is extracted directly from the relational structure of the dataset, avoiding any kind of scaling and not proper aggregation procedure, so as to respect the measurement level of the data. An empirical illustration, using data from a special EU-SILC survey on migrants in Italy, provides a new insight on the material deprivation of foreigners living in Italy