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The Poverty Burden: A Measure of the Difficulty of Ending Extreme Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • John Quiggin

    (Department of Economics, University of Queensland)

  • Renuka Mahadevan

    (Department of Economics, University of Queensland)

Abstract

In this paper, we consider an extension of the commonly used poverty gap measure that may be used to address he question of whether the elimination of poverty is a feasible objective, given sufficient political commitment. The resources potentially available to address poverty may be measured by the total amount by which the incomes of the non-poor exceed the same poverty line. The ratio of the poverty gap to the resources potentially available is equal to the proportional tax rate on incomes in excess of the poverty line that would be required to fund a transfer sufficient to raise the incomes of all poor people to the poverty line. We refer to this ratio as the ‘poverty burden’ (PB). We provide a formal definition of the poverty burden and an analysis of its properties as a poverty measure.

Suggested Citation

  • John Quiggin & Renuka Mahadevan, 2010. "The Poverty Burden: A Measure of the Difficulty of Ending Extreme Poverty," Australian Public Policy Program Working Papers WPP10_2, Risk and Sustainable Management Group, University of Queensland.
    • Handle: RePEc:rsm:pubpol:p10_2
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    File URL: http://www.uq.edu.au/rsmg/WP/WPP10_2.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Lidia Ceriani & Paolo Verme, 2014. "The Income Lever and the Allocation of Aid," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(11), pages 1510-1522, November.
    2. Quiggin, John, 2022. "Poverty alleviation as a global public good: The case for Basic Income," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 464-471.
    3. John Paolo Rosales Rivera, 2022. "A nonparametric approach to understanding poverty in the Philippines: Evidence from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 242-267, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid

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