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The estimation of the growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty: a reassessment

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  • Florent Bresson

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Abstract

What are the respective contributions of growth and inequality changes to observed poverty variations? Many studies have attempted to provide some empirical evidence to answer this question using case studies with decompositions of observed poverty spells. Most of them rely on two decomposition frameworks suggested by Datt & Ravallion (1992) on the one hand, and Shorrocks (1999) and Kakwani (2000) on the other hand. However, despite their properties, these techniques are not appropriate for such an accounting exercise. Here, following Muller (2006), we propose an alternative decomposition procedure that is consistent with definitions of growth and inequality effects stemming from time-integral calculus. Contrary to the aforementioned methods, the proposed technique simultaneously fits the observed pattern of income distributions changes and does not produce large residual components.

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  • Florent Bresson, 2008. "The estimation of the growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty: a reassessment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(14), pages 1-7.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-08i30023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Buhong Zheng, 1997. "Aggregate Poverty Measures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 123-162, June.
    2. Florent Bresson & Kelly Labar, 2007. "“Leftist”, “Rightist” and Intermediate Decompositions of Poverty: Variations with an Application to China from 1990 to 2003," Working Papers 76, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Amiel, Yoram & Cowell, Frank A., 1992. "Measurement of income inequality : Experimental test by questionnaire," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 3-26, February.
    4. Francis Menjo Baye, 2006. "Growth, Redistribution and Poverty Changes in Cameroon: A Shapley Decomposition Analysis," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(4), pages 543-570, December.
    5. Kai-yuen Tsui, 1996. "Growth-equity decomposition of a change in poverty: An axiomatic approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 417-423, March.
    6. Zhang, Yin & Wan, Guanghua, 2006. "The impact of growth and inequality on rural poverty in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 694-712, December.
    7. repec:bla:jecsur:v:11:y:1997:i:2:p:123-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Muller, Adrian, 2006. "Clarifying Poverty Decomposition," Working Papers in Economics 217, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 17 Nov 2008.
    9. L. R. Jain & Suresh D. Tendulkar, 1990. "Role of Growth and Distribution in the Observed Change in Headcount Ratio Measure of Poverty: A Decomposition Exercise for India," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 165-205, July.
    10. Hyun Son, 2003. "A New Poverty Decomposition," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 1(2), pages 181-187, August.
    11. Shatakshee Dhongde, 2007. "Measuring the Impact of Growth and Income Distribution on Poverty in India," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 16(2), pages 25-48, June.
    12. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1992. "Growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty measures : A decomposition with applications to Brazil and India in the 1980s," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 275-295, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Masato Okamoto, 2011. "Source decomposition of changes in income inequality: the integral-based approach and its approximation by the chained Shapley-value approach," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 145-181, June.
    2. Ivica Rubil, 2013. "Accounting for Regional Poverty Differences in Croatia: Exploring the Role of Disparities in Average Income and Inequality," Working Papers 1301, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb.
    3. Wasiu Adekunle Are, 2012. "Growth and Income Redistribution Components of Changes in Poverty: A Decomposition Analysis for Ireland, 1987-2005," Working Papers 201231, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    4. Oihana Aristondo & Conchita D'Ambrosio & Casilda Lasso de la Vega, 2023. "Decomposing the changes in poverty: Poverty line and distributional effects," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 1048-1063, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • C0 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General

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