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Being Poor, Feeling Poorer: Inequality, Poverty and Poverty Perceptions in the Western Balkans

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  • Zsoka Koczan

Abstract

Emerging Europe has undergone a major economic transformation over the past 25 years. Most countries experienced initial drops in output during transition, followed by recovery in the second half of the 1990s. The path of transition in the Western Balkans has however been particularly uneven. The effects of transition also seem to have been more traumatic and persistent in the Western Balkans, and nostalgia for the past appears to be more prevalent here than in other former communist regions. Such dissatisfaction has important implications for the political economy of further reforms. This paper aims to inform policy by complementing the analysis of standard macro-level measures of inequality and poverty with a household-level analysis of subjective perceptions of poverty. We find that many more people appear to feel poor than are classified as such using purely income-based measures. Uncertainty, in particular related to expectations of future income and vulnerability to shocks, appears to be a key driver behind this discrepancy.

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  • Zsoka Koczan, 2016. "Being Poor, Feeling Poorer: Inequality, Poverty and Poverty Perceptions in the Western Balkans," IMF Working Papers 2016/031, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2016/031
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    7. Edgar J. Saucedo-Acosta, 2021. "Quantifying the Relationship Between GDP Per Capita and Inequality in the Balkan Region," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 14(2), pages 7-13, September.
    8. Shan Xu & Panyi Ma, 2022. "CEOs’ Poverty Experience and Corporate Social Responsibility: Are CEOs Who Have Experienced Poverty More Generous?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 747-776, October.
    9. Hannah M. Dunga & Steven H. Dunga, 2022. "Determinants of Perceptions of Poverty; A Case of Townships in Gauteng Province of South Africa," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 12(3), pages 97-103, May.
    10. Lixia Zhang & Liwei Zhang & Alexander Testa, 2022. "Childhood Adversity and Risky Behaviors among Chinese Rural Young Adults: The Mediation Effect of Perceived Stress and Moderation Effect of Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-14, October.

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