This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Focused Targeting against Poverty Evidence from Tunisia

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Christophe Muller () (Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico Universidad de Alicante, Campus de San Vicente)
Sami Bibi () (Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion de Tunis (FSEGT),Unité de Recherche en Econométrie Appliquée (URECA))

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

(english) This paper introduces a new methodology to target direct transfers against poverty. Our method is based on estimation methods that focus on the poor. Using data from Tunisia, we estimate ‘focused’ transfer schemes that highly improve anti-poverty targeting performances. Post-transfer poverty can be substantially reduced with the new estimation method. In terms of P2, the most popular axiomatically valid poverty indicator, moving from 1.30, the level reached under subsidies, to 0.36, the level reached with the best OLS method, costs about 2.9 percent of GDP. An additional reduction down to 0.25, that is another 30 percent reduction in poverty, requires only a few hours of statistician work. Finally, the obtained levels of under-coverage of the poor is so low that ‘proxy-means’ focused transfer schemes becomes a realistic alternative to price subsidies, likely to avoid social unrest.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.dial.prd.fr/dial_publications/PDF/Doc_travail/2007-07.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: First version, 2006
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by DIAL (Développement, Institutions & Analyses de Long terme) in its series Working Papers with number DT/2007/07.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length: 47 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200707

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 4, rue d'Enghien, 75010 Paris
Phone: + 33 1 53 24 14 50
Fax: + 33 1 53 24 14 51
Email:
Web page: http://www.dial.prd.fr/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Loic Le Pezennec).

Related research
Keywords: Poverty Targeting Transfers.

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Muller, Christophe, 2002. "Prices and living standards: evidence for Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 187-203, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Park, Albert & Wang, Sangui & Wu, Guobao, 2002. "Regional poverty targeting in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 123-153, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1994. "Transfer Benefits from Public-Works Employment: Evidence for Rural India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(427), pages 1346-69, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Bourguignon, F. & Fields, G., 1995. "Discontinuous Losses from Poverty, Generalized P& Measures and Optimal Transfers to the Poor," DELTA Working Papers 95-06, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  5. Cowell, Frank A. & Victoria-Feser, Maria-Pia, 1996. "Poverty measurement with contaminated data: A robust approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1761-1771, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Deaton, Angus, 1988. "Quality, Quantity, and Spatial Variation of Price," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 418-30, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Ahmed, Akhter U. & Bouis, Howarth E., 2002. "Weighing what's practical: proxy means tests for targeting food subsidies in Egypt," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5-6), pages 519-540. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Bourguignon, F. & Fields, G.S., 1990. "Poverty Measures and Anti-Poverty Policy," DELTA Working Papers 90-04, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  9. Pollak, Robert A & Wales, Terence J, 1979. "Welfare Comparisons and Equivalence Scales," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(2), pages 216-21, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Besley, T. & Coate, S., 1989. "Workfare Vs. Welfare: Incentive Arguments For Work Requirements In Poverty Alleviation Programs," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 314, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  11. Besley, Timothy J & Kanbur, S M Ravi, 1988. "Food Subsidies and Poverty Alleviation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(392), pages 701-19, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bigman, David & Fofack, Hippolyte, 2000. "Geographical Targeting for Poverty Alleviation: An Introduction to the Special Issue," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 129-45, January.
  13. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Deaton, Angus, 1981. "Optimal Taxes and the Structure of Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(5), pages 1245-60, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Bigman, David & Srinivasan, P. V., 2002. "Geographical targeting of poverty alleviation programs: methodology and applications in rural India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 237-255, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Bardhan, Pranab & Mookherjee, Dilip, 2006. "Pro-poor targeting and accountability of local governments in West Bengal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 303-327, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. van de Walle, Dominique, 1998. "Assessing the welfare impacts of public spending," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 365-379, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. Chris Elbers & Jean O. Lanjouw & Peter Lanjouw, 2003. "Micro--Level Estimation of Poverty and Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 355-364, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. King, Mervyn A., 1983. "Welfare analysis of tax reforms using household data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-214, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Ravallion, Martin & Chao, Kalvin, 1989. "Targeted policies for poverty alleviation under imperfect information: Algorithms and applications," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 213-224. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Glewwe, Paul, 1992. "Targeting assistance to the poor : Efficient allocation of transfers when household income is not observed," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 297-321, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Creedy, John, 1996. "Comparing Tax and Transfer Systems: Poverty, Inequality and Target Efficiency," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages S163-74, Suppl.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Frances Stewart, 1993. "Two Errors of Targeting," Innocenti Occasional Papers, Economic Policy Series iopeps93/54, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
  24. Galasso, Emanuela & Ravallion, Martin, 2005. "Decentralized targeting of an antipoverty program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 705-727, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Schady, Norbert R, 2002. "Picking the Poor: Indicators for Geographic Targeting in Peru," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(3), pages 417-33, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Ravallion, Martin, 1989. "Land-contingent poverty alleviation schemes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(8), pages 1223-1233, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Slesnick, Daniel T, 1996. "Consumption and Poverty: How Effective Are In-Kind Transfers?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(439), pages 1527-45, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Bibi, Sami & Duclos, Jean-Yves, 2007. "Equity and policy effectiveness with imperfect targeting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 109-140, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  29. David Coady, 2004. "Targeting Outcomes Redux," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 61-85.
  30. Chakravarty, Satya R. & Mukherjee, Diganta, 1998. "Optimal subsidy for the poor," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 313-319, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  31. Baker, Judy L. & Grosh, Margaret E., 1994. "Poverty reduction through geographic targeting: How well does it work?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 983-995, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Pudney, Stephen, 1999. " On Some Statistical Methods for Modelling the Incidence of Poverty," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(3), pages 385-408, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  33. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-66, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  34. Moshe Buchinsky & Jinyong Hahn, 1998. "An Alternative Estimator for the Censored Quantile Regression Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(3), pages 653-672, May.
  35. Glewwe, P. & Kanaan, O., 1989. "Targeting Assistance to the Poor: A Multivariate Approach Using Household Survey Data," Papers 94, Warwick - Development Economics Research Centre.
  36. Powell, James L., 1986. "Censored regression quantiles," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 143-155, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Christophe Muller, 2006. "Optimising Anti-Poverty Transfers With Quantile Regressions," IDEP Working Papers 0601, Institut d'economie publique (IDEP), Marseille, France, revised Feb 2006. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? RePEc also has a blog.

This page was last updated on 2008-8-11.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.