Journal ArticleDOI
Measurement and Alleviation of Poverty: With an Application to the Effects of Macroeconomic Adjustment (Evaluation quantitative de la pauvreté et remèdes possibles: analyse des effets d'un ajustement macroéconomique) (Medición y alivio de la pobreza, con una aplicación a los efectos del ajuste macroeconómico)
S. M. Ravi Kanbur
- Vol. 34, Iss: 1, pp 60-85
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In this article, a methodology for evaluating the impact of macroeconomic adjustment on poverty has been proposed, based on the concept of crossover time, the time that it would take the average poor person to cross the poverty line if his income grew at the per capita growth rate experienced in the past.Abstract:
This paper reviews recent developments in the measurement of poverty, analyzes alternative strategies for poverty alleviation, and suggests a methodology for evaluating the impact of macroeconomic adjustment on poverty. The paper begins with the conceptual basis of alternative poverty lines and alternative indices. It then introduces the concept of "crossover time," the time that it would take the average poor person to cross the poverty line if his income grew at the per capita growth rate experienced in the past. For reasonable estimates this crossover time can exceed twenty years, which perhaps explains the concern with redistribution rather than a complete reliance on "trickle-down" effects. Regarding redistribution, the paper considers the question of targeting public expenditure on the poor. If large-scale means testing of individual households is administratively infeasible or too costly, policy must rely on instruments that measure the incomes of broadly defined groups. Although leakage is inevitable, how can it be minimized? The paper develops a methodology to answer this question and derives budgetary rules for poverty alleviation that rely only on information readily available in surveys of household income and expenditure. The paper also analyzes macroeconomic adjustment and poverty. The bottom line for most policies is to switch expenditure toward the traded goods sector and to reduce overall expenditure. The paper derives rules for when such a switch will increase or decrease poverty as well as for deciding which broad categories of income should bear the burden of reduction. Finally, the paper suggests areas for further research, especially through an application of the methodology developed in it to actual case studies. /// Le prA©sent article examine les A©tudes quantitatives qui ont A©tA© rA©cemment effectuA©es sur la pauvretA©, ainsi que diverses stratA©gies visant A y remA©dier; l'auteur propose A©galement une mA©thode de dA©termination de l'effet d'un ajustement macroA©conomique sur la pauvretA©. L'auteur commence par dA©finir diffA©rents seuils de pauvretA© et indices de pauvretA©. Puis, il introduit la notion de "temps de passage", c'est-A -dire le temps nA©cessaire A un A©conomiquement faible moyen pour quitter le seuil de pauvretA© si son revenu augmentait au mAame rythme que le taux de croissance par habitant enregistrA© dans le passA©. Il ressort d'estimations raisonnables que ce temps de passage peut Aatre supA©rieur A vingt ans, ce qui explique peut-Aatre l'importance accordA©e A la redistribution par opposition A un recours unique aux effets de retombA©e. S'agissant de la redistribution, l'auteur examine la question de l'orientation explicite des dA©penses publiques vers les A©conomiquement faibles. S'il est impossible sur le plan pratique, ou trop coA»teux, de procA©der A une vaste enquAate sur les ressources financiA¨res des mA©nages, la politique doit reposer sur des instruments qui mesurent les revenus de groupes dA©finis de maniA¨re gA©nA©rale. S'il est impossible de limiter les effets de cette politique aux groupes pour lesquels elle a A©tA© conA§ue, comment minimiser ces fuites? L'A©tude prA©sente une mA©thode qui rA©pond A cette question et A©tablit des normes budgA©taires destinA©es A allA©ger la pauvretA©, qui s'appuient uniquement sur des donnA©es provenant d'enquAates sur le revenu et les dA©penses des mA©nages. L'auteur analyse A©galement l'ajustement macroA©conomique et la pauvretA©. La plupart des politiques consistent, en fin de compte, A rA©orienter les dA©penses vers le secteur des biens A©changA©s et A rA©duire les dA©penses globales. L'A©tude prA©sente certaines normes permettant de dA©terminer quand cette rA©orientation peut provoquer un accroissement ou une diminution de la pauvretA© et de dA©cider quelles sont les grandes catA©gories de revenus qui doivent supporter le fardeau de la rA©duction. Enfin, l'auteur suggA¨re divers domaines susceptibles d'Aatre d'A©tudiA©s de maniA¨re plus approfondie, notamment par l'application A des cas spA©cifiques de la mA©thode mise au point dans le cadre de la prA©sente A©tude. /// En este trabajo pasamos revista a la evoluciA³n mAis reciente de la mediciA³n de la pobreza, analizando estrategias alternativas para mitigarla y proponiendo una metodologAa para evaluar los efectos que el ajuste macroeconA³mico tiene sobre la misma. El artAculo empieza presentando el fundamento conceptual de las distintas lAneas de pobreza y de los diferentes Andices; a continuaciA³n aborda el concepto de "perAodo de traspaso", es decir, el tiempo que tardarAa la persona pobre media en traspasar la lAnea de pobreza si sus ingresos aumentaran al ritmo de crecimiento per cAipita experimentado en el pasado. Con arreglo a unas estimaciones razonables, dicho perAodo podrAa superar los veinte aA±os, lo que explica quizAi la preocupaciA³n por la redistribuciA³n, en vez de fiarse por completo de los efectos del "goteo de los beneficios". En lo relativo a la redistribuciA³n, el presente trabajo considera la cuestiA³n de volcar el gasto pAoblico en los pobres. Si no es factible desde el punto de vista administrativo contrastar a gran escala los medios econA³micos de cada una de las unidades familiares, o resulta demasiado costoso, la polAtica habrAi de apoyarse en instrumentos que midan el ingreso de grupos definidos de forma amplia. Aunque la filtraciA³n es inevitable, Â?cA³mo reducirla al mAnimo? Se presenta aquA una metodologAa para contestar a esa pregunta y que permite formular unas reglas presupuestarias para mitigar la pobreza exclusivamente en la informaciA³n disponible directamente de las encuestas sobre ingresos y gastos de las unidades familiares. El presente artAculo analiza tambiA©n el ajuste macroeconA³mico y la pobreza. La finalidad de muchas medidas de polAtica consiste en trasladar el gasto hacia el sector de bienes comerciados y reducir el gasto global. MAis adelante se formulan las reglas a aplicar cuando dicha traslaciA³n aumente o disminuya la pobreza, asA como para decidir quA© categorAas generales de ingresos habrAin de soportar la carga de la reducciA³n. Por Aoltimo, se proponen algunos temas en los que puede continuarse la investigaciA³n, especialmente mediante la aplicaciA³n a casos concretos de la metodologAa aquA formulada.read more
Citations
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Aid allocation and poverty reduction
TL;DR: In this article, the authors derive a poverty-efficient allocation of aid and compare it with actual aid allocations, and find that the actual allocation is radically different from the poverty efficient allocation, for a given of poverty, aid tapers in with policy reform.
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Poverty and economic growth with application to côte d'ivoire
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the relation between economic growth and poverty, and developed the methodology to measure separately the impact of changes in average inccome and income inequality on poverty.
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Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition
Stefan Dercon,Pramila Krishnan +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on testing the robustness of measured changes in poverty to these common problems, using household panel data collected in rural Ethiopia in 1989, 1994 and 1995: in particular, they implement a simple graphical technique for assessing the impact of uncertainty in measured inflation rates.
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The Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measures: 25 years later
TL;DR: The FGT class of decomposable poverty measures was introduced in Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (Econometrica 52:761-776, 1984) as discussed by the authors.
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Poverty alleviation through geographic targeting: How much does disaggregation help?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employ recently completed "poverty maps" for three countries as tools for an ex ante evaluation of the distributional incidence of geographic targeting of public resources, and simulate the impact on poverty of transferring an exogenously given budget to geographically defined subgroups of the population according to their relative poverty status.
References
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Book ChapterDOI
Economic Growth and Income Inequality
TL;DR: The process of industrialization engenders increasing income inequality as the labor force shifts from low-income agriculture to the high income sectors as mentioned in this paper, and on more advanced levels of development inequality starts decreasing and industrialized countries are again characterized by low inequality due to the smaller weight of agriculture in production and income generation.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures
Journal ArticleDOI
On the Measurement of Inequality
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Journal ArticleDOI
Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a new measure of poverty, which should avoid some of the shortcomings of the measures currently in use, and used an axiomatic approach to derive the measure.
BookDOI
Poverty in the United Kingdom : a survey of household resources and standards of living
TL;DR: Based on exclusive access to the largest ever survey of poverty in the UK, and its predecessor surveys in the 1980s and 1990s, Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack track changes in deprivation and paint a devastating picture of the reality of poverty today and its causes as mentioned in this paper.