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Poverty and Ethnicity in Asian Countries

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  • Gradin, Carlos

    (Asian Development Bank Institute)

Abstract

We compare the extent and the nature of the higher prevalence of poverty among disadvantaged ethnic groups in six Asian countries using demographic surveys. We first estimate a composite wealth index as a proxy for economic status, and analyze the magnitude of the ethnic gap in absolute and relative poverty levels across six countries and different ethnicities in those countries. Then, we use regression-based counterfactual analysis for explaining these ethnic differentials in poverty. We compare the actual differential in poverty with the gap that remains after disadvantaged ethnic groups are given the distribution of characteristics of the advantaged ones (by reweighting their densities using propensity scores). Our results show that there is a substantial cross-country variability in the extension, evolution, and nature of the ethnic poverty gap, which is as high as 50 percentage points or more in some specific cases in Nepal, Pakistan, or India. The gap in the latter country increased over the analyzed period, while it was reduced in the Philippines. Our analyses indicate that factors that contribute to ethnic disadvantaged groups being poorer are the strongly persistent high inequalities in education (e.g., India, Nepal, and Pakistan), in regional development (e.g., the Philippines) and the large urban-rural gap (e.g., Pakistan).

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  • Gradin, Carlos, 2016. "Poverty and Ethnicity in Asian Countries," ADBI Working Papers 624, Asian Development Bank Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0624
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    Cited by:

    1. Sudeshna Chattopadhyay, 2019. "Index of Non-tariff Measures: A Study of the EU Textile and Garment Market," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 54(3), pages 206-223, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; ethnicity; education; regional development; urban-rural gap; India; Nepal; Pakistan; Philippines;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • 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
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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