IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jpolmo/v47y2025i3p569-587.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficiency in poverty reduction in Bolivia

Author

Listed:
  • Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo
  • Puerta-Cuartas, Alejandro
  • Beverinotti, Javier

Abstract

A decline in poverty at the national level can mask regional disparities related to heterogeneous levels of efficiency among states that may limit the effectiveness of poverty reduction programs. To address this, we propose an empirical framework to unveil regional differences in poverty reduction and their drivers. Our method identifies the potential for poverty reduction and the factors crucial for designing place-based public policies. Applying this method to Bolivia for the period 2000–2021, we find that inefficiency in poverty reduction is largely persistent in specific states, underscoring the need for long-term strategies, especially those targeting informality and unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Puerta-Cuartas, Alejandro & Beverinotti, Javier, 2025. "Efficiency in poverty reduction in Bolivia," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 569-587.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:47:y:2025:i:3:p:569-587
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893824001480
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.11.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barrett, Christopher B. & Lee, David R. & McPeak, John G., 2005. "Institutional Arrangements for Rural Poverty Reduction and Resource Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 193-197, February.
    2. Chien-Ming Chen & Magali A. Delmas & Marvin B. Lieberman, 2015. "Production frontier methodologies and efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 19-36, January.
    3. Filippini, Massimo & Hunt, Lester C., 2015. "Measurement of energy efficiency based on economic foundations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 5-16.
    4. Pernia, Ernesto & Kakwani, Nanak, 2000. "What is Pro-poor Growth?," MPRA Paper 104987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gustavo Canavire‐Bacarreza & Michael Jetter & Marcos Robles, 2018. "When Does Economic Growth Reduce Poverty and Strengthen the Middle Class? A State‐Level, Sector‐Specific Analysis of Peru," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 1067-1087, April.
    6. Kouadio, Hugues Kouassi & Gakpa, Lewis-Landry, 2022. "Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 41-63.
    7. Ravallion, Martin & Chao, Kalvin, 1989. "Targeted policies for poverty alleviation under imperfect information: Algorithms and applications," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 213-224.
    8. Ferdi Celikay & Erdal Gumus, 2017. "The effect of social spending on reducing poverty," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(5), pages 620-632, May.
    9. L. Becchetti & David Bedoya & L. Paganetto, 2003. "ICT Investment, Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence at Firm Level Using a Stochastic Frontier Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 143-167, September.
    10. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    11. Kamil Makieła, 2017. "Bayesian Inference and Gibbs Sampling in Generalized True Random-Effects Models," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 9(1), pages 69-95, March.
    12. The World Bank, 2022. "Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2022: Correcting Course," Post-Print hal-05130118, HAL.
    13. repec:wly:hlthec:v:26:y:2017:i::p:5-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2010. "Poverty reduction without economic growth?: Explaining Brazil's poverty dynamics, 1985-2004," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 20-36, September.
    15. Nanak Kakwani & Ernesto M. Pernia, 2000. "What is Pro-poor Growth?," Asian Development Review (ADR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-16.
    16. Abdoulahi Garba & Olivier Beguy & Arsene Kaho & Wael Mansour & Luc Razafimandimby & Sebastien Dessus, 2016. "Macroeconomic Management for Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 24401, The World Bank Group.
    17. Fosu, Augustin Kwasi, 2010. "Does inequality constrain poverty reduction programs? Evidence from Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 818-827, November.
    18. Efthymios G. Tsionas & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2014. "FIRM HETEROGENEITY, PERSISTENT AND TRANSIENT TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCY: A GENERALIZED TRUE RANDOM‐EFFECTS model," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 110-132, January.
    19. Bigman, David & Srinivasan, P. V., 2002. "Geographical targeting of poverty alleviation programs: methodology and applications in rural India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 237-255, June.
    20. World Bank, 2022. "Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2022," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 37739.
    21. Roberto Colombi & Gianmaria Martini & Giorgio Vittadini, 2017. "Determinants of transient and persistent hospital efficiency: The case of Italy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S2), pages 5-22, September.
    22. Gupta, Sanjeev & Verhoeven, Marijn, 2001. "The efficiency of government expenditure: experiences from Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 433-467, May.
    23. Fenn, Paul & Vencappa, Dev & Diacon, Stephen & Klumpes, Paul & O'Brien, Chris, 2008. "Market structure and the efficiency of European insurance companies: A stochastic frontier analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 86-100, January.
    24. Heady, Christopher, 2000. "Natural resource sustainability and poverty reduction," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 241-258, July.
    25. Greene, William, 2005. "Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 269-303, June.
    26. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Lovell,C. A. Knox, 2003. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521666633, November.
    27. Magdalena Cyrek, 2019. "Government social spending in the EU countries: efficiency in poverty and income inequality reduction," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(3), pages 405-424, September.
    28. Gustavo Canavire-Bacarreza & Maria Cecilia Deza & Osmel Manzano & Alejandro Puerta, 2021. "Revisiting tax effort in emerging markets," Public Finance Review, , vol. 49(6), pages 845-873, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Canavire Bacarreza, Gustavo J. & Puerta-Cuartas, Alejandro & Beverinotti, Javier, 2024. "Efficiency in Poverty Reduction: A State-Level Analysis for Bolivia," IZA Discussion Papers 16794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Castiglione, Concetta & Infante, Davide & Zieba, Marta, 2023. "Public support for performing arts. Efficiency and productivity gains in eleven European countries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    4. Daniel Albalate & Jordi Rosell, 2016. "Persistent and transient efficiency on the stochastic production and cost frontiers – an application to the motorway sector," Working Papers XREAP2016-04, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Oct 2016.
    5. Sedat Alataş & Burcu Hiçyılmaz & Etem Karakaya, 2024. "Material demand and material efficiency for sustainable development in the European Union countries: A stochastic frontier analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 166-183, February.
    6. Giorgio Matteucci & Daniele Santis, 2025. "The pharmaceutical distributors’ efficiency in Italy: an assessment of the impact of the 2010 reimbursable drug pricing reform," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-26, March.
    7. Huaping Sun & Bless Kofi Edziah & Xiaoqian Song & Anthony Kwaku Kporsu & Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2020. "Estimating Persistent and Transient Energy Efficiency in Belt and Road Countries: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Baños-Pino, José F. & Boto-García, David & Zapico, Emma, 2021. "Persistence and dynamics in the efficiency of toll motorways: The Spanish case," Efficiency Series Papers 2021/03, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    9. Yu, Chenyang & Tan, Yuanfang & Zhou, Yu & Zang, Chuanxiang & Tu, Chenglin, 2022. "Can functional urban specialization improve industrial energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    10. Magambo, Isaiah & Dikgang, Johane & Gelo, Dambala & Tregenna, Fiona, 2021. "Environmental and Technical Efficiency in Large Gold Mines in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 108068, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Das, Tirthatanmoy & Polachek, Solomon W., 2017. "Estimating labor force joiners and leavers using a heterogeneity augmented two-tier stochastic frontier," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 199(2), pages 156-172.
    12. Dorgyles C.M. Kouakou, 2022. "Separating innovation short-run and long-run technical efficiencies: Evidence from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 19(1), pages 103-141, June.
    13. Massimo Filippini & Lester C. Hunt, 2013. "'Underlying Energy Efficiency' in the US," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 13/181, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    14. Ablam Estel APETI & Bao-We-Wal BAMBE & Jean Louis COMBES, 2022. "On the Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Reforms : Fiscal Rules and Public Expenditure Efficiency," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2985, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    15. Sickles, Robin C. & Song, Wonho & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2018. "Econometric Analysis of Productivity: Theory and Implementation in R," Working Papers 18-008, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    16. Philip Kofi Adom & Joonho Yeo & Lin Zhang, 2021. "Is water use sustainable and efficient in China? Evidence from a macro level analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(53), pages 6166-6183, November.
    17. Horrace, William C. & Rothbart, Michah W. & Yang, Yi, 2022. "Technical efficiency of public middle schools in New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Boris E. Bravo‐Ureta & Víctor H. Moreira & Javier L. Troncoso & Alan Wall, 2020. "Plot‐level technical efficiency accounting for farm‐level effects: Evidence from Chilean wine grape producers," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(6), pages 811-824, November.
    19. Andrew P. Barnes, 2023. "The role of family life‐cycle events on persistent and transient inefficiencies in less favoured areas," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 295-315, February.
    20. Leppin Julian S., 2014. "The Estimation of Reservation Wages: A Simulation-Based Comparison," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(5), pages 603-634, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:47:y:2025:i:3:p:569-587. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505735 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.