IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hir/idecdp/2-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Improvement of Socio-economic Conditions and Distribution of Consumption Expenditures: Case Study of India's Poverty Decline over Two Decades

Author

Listed:
  • Takahiro Ito

    (Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University)

Abstract

This paper examines how living standards in India have improved over two decades, focusing on the distribution of household-level consumption expenditures. The analysis is conducted using the DiNardo-Fortin-Lemieux (DFL) semi-parametric decomposition method. This method offers two desirable features, which enable us to avoid the traditional pitfalls of (semi-)macro-level poverty analysis. The estimation results indicate that regional heterogeneity in poverty decline is very large, and different regional factors contribute to the poverty decline at different stage of development. From 1983 to 1993/94, regional education (measured by literacy rate) is the main engine of the poverty decline. It accounts for 85% of the total poverty decline in this period. During the following 10 years, the labor market condition has a significant role in reducing poverty. Especially, wage and employment growth in the non-agricultural sector is the key to the improvement of living standards. In addition, agricultural wage employment is still important to reduce poverty in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Takahiro Ito, 2012. "Improvement of Socio-economic Conditions and Distribution of Consumption Expenditures: Case Study of India's Poverty Decline over Two Decades," IDEC DP2 Series 2-9, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).
    • Handle: RePEc:hir:idecdp:2-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/32413/20141016190131709096/IDEC-DP2_02-9.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 2002. "Is India's Economic Growth Leaving the Poor Behind?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 89-108, Summer.
    2. K. Sundaram, 2007. "Employment and Poverty in India: 2000-2005," Working Papers id:1100, eSocialSciences.
    3. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Why Have Some Indian States Done Better than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 17-38, February.
    4. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 2002. "Why has economic growth been more pro-poor in some states of India than others?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 381-400, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Shabana Mitra, 2018. "Re-Assessing “trickle-down” Using a Multidimensional Criteria: The Case of India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 497-515, April.
    2. Himanshu & Kunal Sen, 2014. "Revisiting the Great Indian Poverty Debate: Measurement, Patterns, and Determinants," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 20314, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Sushanta K. Mallick, 2014. "Disentangling the Poverty Effects of Sectoral Output, Prices, and Policies in India," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 773-801, December.
    4. Peter Lanjouw & Rinku Murgai, 2009. "Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983–2004," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 243-263, March.
    5. Montalvo, Jose G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2010. "The pattern of growth and poverty reduction in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 2-16, March.
    6. Takashi Kurosaki & Yasuyuki Sawada & Asit Banerji & S.N. Mishra, 2007. "Rural-Urban Migration and Urban Poverty: Socio-Economic Profiles of Rickshaw Pullers and Owner-Contractors in North-East Delhi," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-485, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    7. Caridad Araujo, 2004. "Can Non-Agricultural Employment Reduce Rural Poverty? Evidence from Mexico," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 41(124), pages 383-399.
    8. Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Resosudarmo, Budy P., 2015. "Growth, Growth Accelerations, and the Poor: Lessons from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 154-165.
    9. Narayanamoorthy, A. & Hanjra, Munir A., 2010. "What Contributes to Disparity in Rural-Urban Poverty in Tamil Nadu?: A District Level Analysis," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 65(2), pages 1-17.
    10. World Bank, 2002. "India : Power Sector Reform and the Poor," World Bank Publications - Reports 15286, The World Bank Group.
    11. Klasen, Stephan, 2008. "Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement Issues using Income and Non-Income Indicators," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 420-445, March.
    12. Inoue, Takeshi & Hamori, Shigeyuki, 2010. "How has financial deepening affected poverty reduction in India? : empirical analysis using state-level panel data," IDE Discussion Papers 249, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    13. Ross Stewart & Carlos Moslares, 2012. "Income inequality and economic growth: the case of Indian states 1980-2010," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, August.
    14. Bhalotra, Sonia, 2010. "Fatal fluctuations? Cyclicality in infant mortality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 7-19, September.
    15. Martin Ravallion, 2011. "A Comparative Perspective on Poverty Reduction in Brazil, China, and India," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 71-104, February.
    16. Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2008. "Global poverty and inequality : a review of the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4623, The World Bank.
    17. Martin Ravallion, 2004. "The Debate on Globalization, Poverty and Inequality: why Measurement Matters," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 1, March.
    18. Ankita Mishra & Ranjan Ray, 2013. "Multi-Dimensional Deprivation in India During and After the Reforms: Do the Household Expenditure and the Family Health Surveys Present Consistent Evidence?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 791-818, January.
    19. Ligon, Ethan & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2018. "Estimating the Relative Benefits of Agricultural Growth on the Distribution of Expenditures," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 417-428.
    20. Stefan Dercon, 2009. "Rural Poverty: Old Challenges in New Contexts," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumption expenditures; kernel density estimation; poverty; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hir:idecdp:2-9. 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: Keisuke Kawata (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gshirjp.html .

    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.