Human capital, infrastructure, and institutional quality: leapfrogging the spatial poverty gap

If spatial disparities persist, is it because of differences in human capital, unequal access to infrastructure, the quality of local institutions, or all of them? Taking the example of Cameroon, where significant economic growth was concomitant with persistent spatial dualism in poverty, this paper investigates the determinants of household consumption expenditure and the factors underlying the poverty gap. Using the RIF-decomposition technique, the results confirm the presence of significant spatial differences in favor of the urban and southern areas. The overall welfare gaps are monotonically decreasing along the quantile distribution and are mainly explained by the difference in households’ endowments. Differences in accessibility to electricity and human capital measured by the education level of the head of the household, the household size, and the number of children under 15 years generally favor the leading regions and mainly explain the welfare gap for the poor. The rural poor suffer from differences in access to social infrastructure compared with their counterparts in urban areas. Corruption generally disfavors the poor, while effective local institutions reduce the poverty gap. Enhancing household access to electricity and providing more opportunities for residents in rural areas to access higher education, specifically technical and vocational training, should be the key to closing the spatial differences. Fighting against corruption will give the poor better access to social and public services.