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Is Poverty Stochastic or Structural in Nature? Evidence from Rural India

Author

Listed:
  • Swati Dutta

    (Senior Research Associate at Institute for Human Development)

  • Lakshmi Kumar

    (Associate Professor at Institute for Financial Management and Research)

Abstract

The rationale of this study is to bring in a new area of poverty measurement based on household’s access to basic assets from across Indian States. The major drawback of the average income based measure of poverty is that it is unable to distinguish between the structural and stochastic nature of poverty. This paper applies the asset based framework to poverty to distinguish the relationship between structural and stochastic poverty. The paper has used data from the India Human Development Survey 2005. The results indicate the importance of asset formation for long term poverty reduction. There is a need for targeting pointed policies towards the identified structural poor and stochastic non-poor as they are the most vulnerable and need asset building.

Suggested Citation

  • Swati Dutta & Lakshmi Kumar, 2016. "Is Poverty Stochastic or Structural in Nature? Evidence from Rural India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 957-979, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:128:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1064-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-1064-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asset poverty; Income poverty; Structural poor; Stochastic poor;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

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