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Understanding Poverty among the Elderly in India: Implications for Social Pension Policy

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Author Info
Pal, Sarmistha () (Brunel University)
Palacios, Robert () (World Bank)

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Abstract

The Government of India is implementing a new policy which dramatically increases funding for a cash transfer program targeted to the poor elderly. The expansion of this ‘social pension’ in terms of coverage and benefit levels is taking place with little understanding of poverty among India’s elderly or its determinants. This paper finds that households with elderly members do not have higher poverty rates than non-elderly households. This result is robust under various measures that take into account the size and composition of households. Separate evidence suggests that part of the explanation for this phenomenon is that the poor have higher mortality rates and are therefore underrepresented. This explanation has important implications for social pension policy and suggests that programs that reduce elderly mortality may actually increase the relative poverty levels of the elderly.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3431.

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Length: 41 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2008
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3431

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Related research
Keywords: old age poverty; household demographic composition; adjusted poverty indices; elderly contribution; survivorship bias;

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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. Barrientos, Armando & Gorman, Mark & Heslop, Amanda, 2003. "Old Age Poverty in Developing Countries: Contributions and Dependence in Later Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 555-570, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sugata Ghosh & Sarmistha Pal, 2004. "The Effect of Inequality on Growth: Theory and Evidence from the Indian States," Review of Development Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 8(1), pages 164-177, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1995. "Measuring Poverty Among the Elderly," NBER Working Papers 5296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 897-930, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Willmore, Larry, 2007. "Universal Pensions for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 24-51, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2007. "Aging and Death under a Dollar a Day," NBER Working Papers 13683, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Dreze, Jean & Srinivasan, P. V., 1997. "Widowhood and poverty in rural India: Some inferences from household survey data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 217-234, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Pandey, Manoj K., 2009. "Poverty and disability among Indian elderly: evidence from household survey," MPRA Paper 15580, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Manoj K. Pandey, 2009. "On Ageing, Health and Poverty in Rural India," ASARC Working Papers 2009-14, Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  3. Manoj K. Pandey, 2009. "Poverty and Disability among Indian Elderly: Evidence from Household Survey," ASARC Working Papers 2009-09, Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  4. Pandey, Manoj K., 2009. "On ageing, health and poverty in rural India," MPRA Paper 15926, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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