Biography

Jakob's research focuses on the measurement of welfare, poverty, and inequality. Among his key research interests are the development and use of conceptually and normatively sound metrics for evidence-based policy-making. He seeks to better align well-being measurement with what people value and conducts research on the theoretical formulation, empirical estimation, and policy-application of welfare, inequality, and poverty measures. Jakob is an Analysing and Challenging Inequalities scholar funded by the International Inequalities Insitute at LSE. He is also Research and Policy Officer at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative within the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, where he conducts research on multidimensional poverty measurement and analyses and supports governments and UN agencies in the development of multidimensional poverty indices as permanent official statistics and all-of-government policy-tools. Jakob is also Lecturer at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. He studied Liberal Arts & Sciences (BA), Political Philosophy (MA), and Public Policy and Human Development (MSc & MPP) with Social Protection specialisation in Germany, Spain, and at the United Nations University. Previously, Jakob held research and teaching positions with the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and worked for the German Federal Foreign Office. Some of his most recent publications include reports for and with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme, policy briefs for the G7, as well as academic articles and book chapters on multidimensional poverty, health equity, child poverty, and metrics of welfare and development.

Jakob Dirksen's current research interests are:

• Theories, measurement, and analysis of well-being, poverty and inequality
• Welfare economics and social protection
• Evidence-based public policy
• sustainable (human) development
• The Capability Approach
• Political Philosophy

Jakob's latest projects include:

• Dirksen, J. and Alkire, S. ‘Multidimensional Poverty: Measurement, Analysis, Applications’, in: Zimmermann, K. (ed.), Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer.
• Dirksen, J. ‘Concepts and Measures of Development: Beyond GDP’, in: Dauncey, E., Desai, V., and Potter, R. (eds.), The Companion to Development Studies, 4th Edition. Routledge.
• Dirksen, J., Lima de Miranda, K., and Wike, R. (2022). ‘Towards Economic and Social Prosperity Measurement Beyond GDP’, Think7 Policy Brief – G7 Germany 2022. (Also published as: 'Real Wealth', Think7 Policy Brief, The New Institute, Socio-Economic Transformation)
• UNDP and OPHI (2021). Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021. Unmasking Disparities by Ethnicity, Caste and Gender. New York: United Nations Development Programme.