Hidden Disparities: Unveiling Intrahousehold Consumption Inequality, Economies of Scale, and Individual Poverty in West Africa

This study explores intrahousehold inequality, economies of scale, and their impact on individual-level poverty across WAEMU countries. The analysis in this study is based on an approach grounded in the collective household model to estimate resource shares and economies of scale using expenditure data. First, except for Niger, the results suggest gender inequality in intrahousehold resource allocation within WAEMU countries. On average, men receive between 12% and 22% more resources than women, while children’s resource share decreases as the proportion of girls increases. Next, consistent with previous studies, the results indicate that women and children are the most impoverished individuals within the household after accounting for intrahousehold inequality and economies of scale. Finally, the results show that the per-capita expenditure poverty metric underestimates child poverty and overestimates adult poverty. On average, between 15.1% and 24.5% of children live in households with per capita expenditures above the poverty line. Moreover, ignoring economies of scale would lead to an overestimation of individual poverty ranging from 8% to 17%. This finding indicates that deeper and more specific policies are necessary to guarantee that those in need of assistance obtain them.