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Regional or National Poverty Lines? The Case of Uganda in the 1990s

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  • Simon Appleton

Abstract

Absolute poverty lines are often derived from the cost of obtaining sufficient calories. Where staples vary across regions, such poverty lines may differ depending on whether they are set using national or regional food baskets. Regional poverty lines are open to the objection that they may be contaminated by income effects. This paper explores this issue by focusing on Uganda, a country where widening spatial inequalities in the 1990s have caused concern. Conflicting results from earlier studies have suggested that the spatial pattern of poverty in Uganda is very sensitive to whether national or regional food baskets are used in setting poverty lines. We confirm this suggestion by comparing the spatial profile of poverty in 1993 using national and regional poverty lines. However, since the regions consuming the more expensive staple sources of calories are also those with higher incomes, using simple regional poverty lines is problematic. Instead, a method of setting regional poverty lines is considered that adjusts for income differentials between regions. Even with this adjustment, the use of regional food baskets implies markedly different spatial profile of poverty in Uganda to the use of a national food basket. It is argued that a preference for regional or national poverty lines depends on how one conceives of welfare. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Appleton, 2003. "Regional or National Poverty Lines? The Case of Uganda in the 1990s," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 12(4), pages 598-624, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:12:y:2003:i:4:p:598-624
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Poverty and Household Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1415-1434, November.
    2. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    3. John Mackinnon & Ritva Reinikka, 2002. "How Research Can Assist Policy: The Case of Economic Reforms in Uganda," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 267-292, September.
    4. Kakwani, Nanak, 1993. "Statistical Inference in the Measurement of Poverty," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 632-639, November.
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    1. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5143 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Bbaale, Edward & Okumu, Ibrahim Mike, 2016. "Socio-Economic Status and Malaria Prevalence among Infants: the Case of Uganda," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 4(1), January.
    3. Takahashi, Kazushi, 2016. "Mobile Phone Expansion, Informal Risk Sharing, and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Rural Uganda," MPRA Paper 75135, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kappel, Robert & Lay, Jann & Steiner, Susan, 2004. "The Missing Links - Uganda's Economic Reforms and Pro-Poor Growth," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 3840, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Gerrie W. J. Ven & Anne Valença & Wytze Marinus & Ilse Jager & Katrien K. E. Descheemaeker & Willem Hekman & Beyene Teklu Mellisse & Frederick Baijukya & Mwantumu Omari & Ken E. Giller, 2021. "Living income benchmarking of rural households in low-income countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(3), pages 729-749, June.
    6. repec:zbw:ifwkie:3715 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Maurizio Bussolo & Olivier Godart & Jann Lay & Rainer Thiele, 2007. "The impact of coffee price changes on rural households in Uganda," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(2‐3), pages 293-303, September.
    8. Kappel, Robert & Lay, Jann & Steiner, Susan, 2005. "Uganda: No more pro-poor growth?," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 3504, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Charlotte Guénard & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2004. "Measuring inequalities: Do the surveys give the real picture? Study of two surveys in Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar," Working Papers DT/2004/13, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation), revised Dec 2004.
    10. Bjorn van Campenhout & Haruna Sekabira & Fiona Nattembo, 2015. "Uganda - A new set of utility consistent poverty lines," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-129, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Isard Walter & An Jiyoun, 2004. "A Hierarchical Decision-Making Model for Progress in Reducing Three Evils: Terrorism, Poverty and Environmental Degradation," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Bjorn Van Campenhout & Haruna Sekabira & Fiona Nattembo, 2015. "Uganda - A new set of utility consistent poverty line," WIDER Working Paper Series 129, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Van Campenhout, Bjorn & Ssekabira, Haruna & Aduayom, Dede H., 2014. "Consumption bundle aggregation in poverty measurement: Implications for poverty and its dynamics in Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series 150, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Bjorn van Campenhout & Haruna Sekabira & Dede H. Aduayom, 2014. "Consumption Bundle Aggregation in Poverty Measurement: Implications for Poverty and its Dynamics in Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-150, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Charlotte Guénard & Sandrine Mesplé‐Somps, 2010. "Measuring Inequalities: Do Household Surveys Paint A Realistic Picture?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 519-538, September.

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