We examine the sensitivity of poverty comparisons across countries with dissimilar household needs when equivalence scale parameters are varied. We use a sample of Spanish and British households, using both absolute and relative poverty lines. We sum up these comparisons using subjective confidence levels. We find, inter alia, that although the poor are typically more numerous in Spain than in Britain, the actual headcount differences may vary by up to 10% when needs allowances are altered, even when kept the same across the two countries. Comparisons of poverty composition across the two countries are also very sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale parameters.
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Paper provided by Université Laval - Département d'économique in its series Cahiers de recherche with number
9614.
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.)
Miguel Székely & Nora Lustig & Martin Cumpa & José Antonio Mejía-Guerra, 2000.
"Do We Know How Much Poverty There Is?,"
RES Working Papers
4239, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
Miguel Székely & Nora Lustig & Martin Cumpa & José Antonio Mejía-Guerra, 2000.
"¿Sabemos qué tanta pobreza hay?,"
RES Working Papers
4240, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
[Downloadable!]