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Changes in Inequality and Poverty in Latin America: Looking Beyond Income to Health and Education

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  • David E. Sahn
  • Stephen D. Younger

Abstract

This paper uses Demographic and Health Survey data from six Latin American countries to analyze levels and trends of inequality for two important non-income measures of well- being, children's stature and adult women's educational attainment. Our purpose is to determine whether the worrying trend of increasing income inequality in Latin America is also found in non-income dimensions of well-being. We find that it is not. Almost across the board, health inequality, measured by children's stature, and education inequality, measured by young women's years of schooling, have fallen in these countries in the late 1980s and 1990s, often dramatically. Further, by decomposing changes in non-income dimensions of poverty into shifts in the mean and changes in the distribution of health and education, we show that reduced inequality has contributed to significant reductions in education poverty, and to a lesser extent, health poverty. This, too, is a very different result from the income inequality literature.

Suggested Citation

  • David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2006. "Changes in Inequality and Poverty in Latin America: Looking Beyond Income to Health and Education," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 215-233, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:9:y:2006:i:2:p:215-233
    DOI: 10.1080/15140326.2006.12040645
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    Cited by:

    1. Isaac Addai & Jelena Pokimica, 2012. "An Exploratory Study of Trust and Material Hardship in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 413-438, December.
    2. Richard Mussa, 2013. "Spatial Comparisons of Poverty and Inequality in Living Standards in Malawi," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(2), pages 192-210, June.
    3. Ewout Frankema, 2008. "Comparing the Distribution of Education Across the Developing World, 1960–2005: What Does the Grade Enrollment Distribution Tell about Latin America?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 437-455, September.
    4. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2017. "The Incidence of Child Health Improvements," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 304-320, May.
    5. Mussa, Richard, 2011. "The poverty-inequality relationship in Malawi: A multidimensional perspective," MPRA Paper 31413, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Rodríguez, Laura, 2016. "Intrahousehold Inequalities in Child Rights and Well-Being. A Barrier to Progress?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 111-134.
    7. Judith Clarke & Nilanjana Roy, 2012. "On statistical inference for inequality measures calculated from complex survey data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 499-524, October.
    8. Cabrera, Maynor & Lustig, Nora & Morán, Hilcías E., 2015. "Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and the Ethnic Divide in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 263-279.
    9. Therese Nilsson, 2010. "Health, Wealth and Wisdom: Exploring Multidimensional Inequality in a Developing Country," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 299-323, January.
    10. Freije, Samuel & Porto, Guido, 2008. "Comments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123326, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Adiah, George Adayi-Nwoza, 2014. "Inequality of Opportunity and Children’s Educational and Health Outcomes in Ghana," Miscellaneous Publications 358830, University of Ghana, Institute of Statistical Social & Economic Research (ISSER).
    12. Rodríguez, Laura, 2016. "Intrahousehold Inequalities in Child Rights and Well-Being. A Barrier to Progress?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 111-134.
    13. David E. Sahn & Stephen D. Younger, 2009. "Measuring intra‐household health inequality: explorations using the body mass index," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages 13-36, April.
    14. Mussa, Richard, 2010. "Poverty and Inequality in Standards of Living in Malawi: Does Religious Affiliation Matter?," MPRA Paper 24438, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Emily Nell & Martin Evans & Janet Gornick, 2016. "Child Poverty in Middle-Income Countries," LIS Working papers 666, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    16. Cabrera, Maynor & Lustig, Nora & Morán, Hilcías E., 2015. "Fiscal Policy, Inequality, and the Ethnic Divide in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 263-279.
    17. Salim Shah & Niranjan Debnath, 2022. "Determinants of Multidimensional Poverty in Rural Tripura, India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 20(1), pages 69-95, March.
    18. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Leblanc, Josée & Sahn, David E., 2011. "Comparing population distributions from bin-aggregated sample data: An application to historical height data from France," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 419-437.
    19. Jane Kabubo-Mariara & Anthony Wambugu & Susan Musau, 2011. "Multidimensional Poverty in Kenya: Analysis of Maternal and Child Wellbeing," Working Papers PMMA 2011-12, PEP-PMMA.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • 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

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