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Inequality Decomposition without Income or Expenditure Data: Using an Asset Index to Simulate Household Income

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth Harttgen

    (Development Economics, University of Göttingen)

  • Sebastian Vollmer

    (Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard University, Center for Population and Development Studies)

Abstract

Commonly available survey data for developing countries often do not include income or expenditure data. This data limitation puts severe constraints on standard poverty and inequality analyses. We provide a simple approach to simulate household income based on publicly available Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and macroeconomic data. We illustrate our approach with DHS data for Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Indonesia and Zambia. We calculate standard inequality measures and decompose inequality by urban/rural, sex of the household head, household size and education of the household head.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth Harttgen & Sebastian Vollmer, 2011. "Inequality Decomposition without Income or Expenditure Data: Using an Asset Index to Simulate Household Income," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2011-13, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    • Handle: RePEc:hdr:papers:hdrp-2011-13
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    File URL: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/papers/HDRP_2011_13.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mathy Sane & Miroslav Hajek & Chukwudi Nwaogu & Ratna Chrismiari Purwestri, 2021. "Subsidy as An Economic Instrument for Environmental Protection: A Case of Global Fertilizer Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Harttgen, Kenneth & Klasen, Stephan, 2012. "A Household-Based Human Development Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 878-899.
    3. Gabrielle Wills & Debra Shepherd & Janeli Kotze, 2016. "Interrogating a Paradox of Performance in the WCED: A Provincial and Regional Comparison of Student Learning," Working Papers 14/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Sedona Sweeney & Anna Vassall & Lorna Guinness & Mariana Siapka & Natsayi Chimbindi & Don Mudzengi & Gabriela B. Gomez, 2020. "Examining Approaches to Estimate the Prevalence of Catastrophic Costs Due to Tuberculosis from Small-Scale Studies in South Africa," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 38(6), pages 619-631, June.
    5. Grace Bridgman, 2020. "Orphans and stunted growth: Investigating the potential of spatial network effects in service delivery for reducing stunting in orphans," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-154, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, "undated". "Economic Growth and Child Undernutrition in Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-013, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    7. Yawo A. Noglo & Namponndi Kader Ouedraogo, 2020. "Using Dagum's Gini decomposition to assess households' asset-based gap in the regions of Burkina Faso," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2241-2253.
    8. Sweeney, Sedona & Mukora, Rachel & Candfield, Sophie & Guinness, Lorna & Grant, Alison D. & Vassall, Anna, 2018. "Measuring income for catastrophic cost estimates: Limitations and policy implications of current approaches," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 7-15.
    9. Bridgman, Grace & von Fintel, Dieter, 2022. "Stunting, double orphanhood and unequal access to public services in democratic South Africa," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    10. Tanveer Ahmed Naveed & David Gordon & Sami Ullah & Mary Zhang, 2021. "The Construction of an Asset Index at Household Level and Measurement of Economic Disparities in Punjab (Pakistan) by using MICS-Micro Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 73-95, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Asset index; Income simulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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