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Accounting for Heterogeneity in Growth Incidence in Cameroon Using Recentered Influence Function Regression

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  • B. Essama-Nssah
  • Saumik Paul
  • Léandre Bassolé

Abstract

This paper frames growth incidence analysis within the logic of social impact evaluation understood as an assessment of variations in individual and social outcomes attributable to shocks and policies. It uses recentered influence function (RIF) regression to link the growth incidence curve to household characteristics and to perform counterfactual decomposition à la Oaxaca–Blinder to identify sources of variation in the distribution of consumption expenditure in Cameroon in 2001–2007. We find that the sectors of employment and geography are the main drivers of the observed pattern of growth through the structural effect. The composition effect accounts for a greater proportion of the observed variation in the social impact of growth. In particular, that effect tends to reduce poverty while the structural effect tends to increase it. This conclusion is robust with respect to the choice of poverty measures and RIF regression models. An important methodological lesson emerging from this study is that linear and non-linear specifications of the RIF regression lead to qualitatively similar results. Copyright 2013 , Oxford University Press.

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  • B. Essama-Nssah & Saumik Paul & Léandre Bassolé, 2013. "Accounting for Heterogeneity in Growth Incidence in Cameroon Using Recentered Influence Function Regression," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(5), pages 757-795, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:22:y:2013:i:5:p:757-795
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    Cited by:

    1. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Firpo, Sergio & Galvao, Antonio F., 2017. "Estimation and Inference for Actual and Counterfactual Growth Incidence Curves," IZA Discussion Papers 10473, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Livini Donath & Oliver Morrissey & Trudy Owens, 2021. "Pay period and the distributional effect of education on earnings: Evidence from recentered influence function," Discussion Papers 2021-02, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    3. Daniel Dugger & Peter Lambert, 2014. "The 1913 paper of René Gâteaux, upon which the modern-day influence function is based," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(1), pages 149-152, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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