IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/14059.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

“Too young to die†. Deprivation measures combining poverty and premature mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Baland, Jean-Marie
  • Decerf, Benoit
  • Cassan, Guilhem

Abstract

Most measures of deprivation concentrate on deprivation among the living population and, thus, ignore premature mortality. This omission leads to a severe bias in the evaluation of deprivation. We propose three different measures that combine information on poverty and premature mortality of a population in a meaningful manner. These indices are consistent and satisfy a number of desirable properties unmet by all other measures combining early mortality and poverty. Moreover, these measures are readily computable with available data and easily interpretable. We show that omitting premature mortality leads to an underestimation of total deprivation in 2014 of at least 30% at the world level. We also show that the ranking in terms of deprivation of countries is substantially changed with our measures, and that our nderstanding of the evolution of countries’ deprivation may be reversed when taking premature mortality into account.

Suggested Citation

  • Baland, Jean-Marie & Decerf, Benoit & Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "“Too young to die†. Deprivation measures combining poverty and premature mortality," CEPR Discussion Papers 14059, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP14059
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 277-291, March.
    2. Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2013. "Measuring poverty without the Mortality Paradox," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 40(1), pages 285-316, January.
    3. Shaohua Chen & Martin Ravallion, 2013. "More Relatively-Poor People in a Less Absolutely-Poor World," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(1), pages 1-28, March.
    4. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Shaohua Chen & Andrew Dabalen & Yuri Dikhanov & Nada Hamadeh & Dean Jolliffe & Ambar Narayan & Espen Beer Prydz & Ana Revenga & Prem Sangraula & Umar Serajuddin & Nobuo Yosh, 2016. "A global count of the extreme poor in 2012: data issues, methodology and initial results," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(2), pages 141-172, June.
    5. Charles I. Jones & Peter J. Klenow, 2016. "Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(9), pages 2426-2457, September.
    6. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    7. Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Grégory Ponthière, 2018. "FGT Old-Age Poverty Measures and the Mortality Paradox : Theory and Evidence," Post-Print halshs-01630662, HAL.
    8. John C. Harsanyi, 1953. "Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-taking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61, pages 434-434.
    9. Ravi Kanbur & Diganta Mukherjee, 2007. "Premature Mortality And Poverty Measurement," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 339-359, October.
    10. Sen, Amartya, 1998. "Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 1-25, January.
    11. Foster, James E & Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1991. "Subgroup Consistent Poverty Indices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 687-709, May.
    12. Michael Grimm & Kenneth Harttgen, 2008. "Longer life, higher welfare?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(2), pages 193-211, April.
    13. repec:oup:wbrobs:v:27:y:2011:i:1:p:1-32 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Høyland, Bjørn & Moene, Karl & Willumsen, Fredrik, 2012. "The tyranny of international index rankings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 1-14.
    15. Prasanta K. Pattanaik & Yongsheng Xu, 2018. "On Measuring Multidimensional Deprivation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 657-672, June.
    16. Siwan Anderson & Debraj Ray, 2010. "Missing Women: Age and Disease," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1262-1300.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Decerf, Benoit & Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Mahler, Daniel G. & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Lives and livelihoods: Estimates of the global mortality and poverty effects of the Covid-19 pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Jean-Marie Baland & Guilhem Cassan & Benoit Decerf, 2021. "The Poverty-Adjusted Life Expectancy index: a consistent aggregation of the quantity and the quality of life," DeFiPP Working Papers 2101, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.

    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. Baland,Jean-Marie & Cassan,Guilhem & Decerf,Benoit Marie A, 2022. "Integrating Mortality into Poverty Measurement through the Poverty Adjusted Life Expectancy Index," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10133, The World Bank.
    2. Jean-Marie Baland & Guilhem Cassan & Benoit Decerf, 2021. "The Poverty-Adjusted Life Expectancy index: a consistent aggregation of the quantity and the quality of life," DeFiPP Working Papers 2101, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.
    3. Decerf,Benoit Marie A, 2022. "Normative Indicators Combining Poverty and Mortality : A Survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10042, The World Bank.
    4. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2012. "The Public Economics of Increasing Longevity," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 41-74, March.
    5. Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2023. "Counting the missing poor in pre-industrial societies," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 155-183, January.
    6. Lefebvre, Mathieu & Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2019. "Missing poor and income mobility," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 330-366.
    7. Mathieu Lefèbvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2019. "Premature mortality and poverty measurement in an OLG economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 621-664, April.
    8. Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2023. "Counting the missing poor in pre-industrial societies," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 155-183, January.
    9. Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Grégory Ponthière, 2015. "Longévité différentielle et redistribution : enjeux théoriques et empiriques," CIRANO Working Papers 2015s-06, CIRANO.
    10. Decerf, Benoit & Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Mahler, Daniel G. & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Lives and livelihoods: Estimates of the global mortality and poverty effects of the Covid-19 pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    11. Leroux, Marie-Louise & Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthière, Grégory, 2015. "Longévité différentielle et redistribution : enjeux théoriques et empiriques," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 91(4), pages 465-497, Décembre.
    12. Hippolyte d’Albis & Ikpidi Badji, 2019. "Intergenerational inequalities in mortality-adjusted disposable incomes," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 17(1), pages 037-069.
    13. Mathieu Lefebvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2013. "Measuring poverty without the Mortality Paradox," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 40(1), pages 285-316, January.
    14. Kenneth Harttgen, 2007. "The Impact of HIV on Children´s Welfare," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 157, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Decerf,Benoit Marie A & Ferrando,Mery & Quinn,Natalie N., 2021. "Global Income Poverty Measurement with Preference Heterogeneity : Theory and Application," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9844, The World Bank.
    16. Benoit Decerf & Mery Ferrando, 2020. "Income Poverty has been Halved in the Developing World, even when Accounting for Relative Poverty," Working Papers 546, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    17. Decancq, Koen & Neumann, Dirk, 2014. "Does the Choice of Well-Being Measure Matter Empirically? An Illustration with German Data," IZA Discussion Papers 8589, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Reiko Gotoh & Ryo Kambayashi, 2023. "What the Welfare State Left Behind—Securing the Capability to Move for the Vulnerable," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 18(1), pages 124-143, January.
    19. World Bank, 2022. "A Welfarist Theory Unifying Monetary and Non-Monetary Poverty Measurement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10076, The World Bank.
    20. Mathieu Lefèbvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2018. "FGT Old†Age Poverty Measures and the Mortality Paradox: Theory and Evidence," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 428-458, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Deprivation measurement; Premature mortality; Composite indices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    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:cpr:ceprdp:14059. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.