IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/11011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Losing to Inflation : Unmasking the Unequal Price Effect of Inflation across Households

Author

Listed:
  • Nasir,Muhammad
  • Kishwar,Shabana
  • Moritz Meyer
  • Oscar Eduardo Barriga Cabanillas

Abstract

Standard measures of inflation, such as changes in the Consumer Price Index, do not account for the different effects of inflation across income groups emerging from variations in consumption patterns and differences in price trends across consumption categories. This could understate the adverse welfare effects of inflation for poor households. For instance, previous episodes of rising food prices suggested that poor households experience higher inflation rates because food constitutes a relatively larger share of their consumption expenditures. In light of recent increases in energy and food prices in Pakistan, this paper estimates decile-wise inflation to explore the heterogeneity of inflation rates across the income distribution. The findings suggest that relatively poorer households experience higher inflation overall. The poorest households, on average, experienced inflation rates that were one percentage point higher than those faced by the wealthiest households. This paper also suggests policy recommendations to mitigate the higher inflation effects on the poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Nasir,Muhammad & Kishwar,Shabana & Moritz Meyer & Oscar Eduardo Barriga Cabanillas, 2024. "Losing to Inflation : Unmasking the Unequal Price Effect of Inflation across Households," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11011, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099520212302423816/pdf/IDU-1528a75f-6ce5-43de-851c-7222d9d8dce2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laborde,David & Lakatos,Csilla & Martin,William J., 2019. "Poverty Impact of Food Price Shocks and Policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8724, The World Bank.
    2. Areosa, Waldyr Dutra & Areosa, Marta B.M., 2016. "The inequality channel of monetary transmission," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 214-230.
    3. Tavares, Francisco, 2021. "Inflation heterogeneity and its impact on inequality: evidence from the United States," MPRA Paper 105461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kaplan, Greg & Schulhofer-Wohl, Sam, 2017. "Inflation at the household level," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 19-38.
    5. Channing Arndt & Sam Jones & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2015. "When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality? The case of food prices in Mozambique," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(3), pages 449-464, September.
    6. Erosa, Andres & Ventura, Gustavo, 2002. "On inflation as a regressive consumption tax," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 761-795, May.
    7. Channing Arndt & Sam Jones & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2015. "When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality? The case of food prices in Mozambique," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(3), pages 449-464, September.
    8. Cysne, Rubens P. & Maldonado, Wilfredo L. & Monteiro, Paulo Klinger, 2005. "Inflation and income inequality: A shopping-time approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 516-528, December.
    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. Baez Ramirez,Javier Eduardo & Inan,Osman Kaan & Nebiler,Metin, 2021. "Getting Real ? The Uneven Burden of Inflation across Households in Turkey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9869, The World Bank.
    2. Ha,Jongrim & Ivanova,Anna & Ohnsorge,Franziska Lieselotte & Unsal Portillo Ocando,Derya Filiz, 2019. "Inflation : Concepts, Evolution, and Correlates," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8738, The World Bank.
    3. Pierre Monnin, 2014. "Inflation and Income Inequality in Developed Economies," Working Papers 1401, Council on Economic Policies.
    4. Mehmet Balcilar & Shinhye Chang & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2018. "The relationship between the inflation rate and inequality across U.S. states: a semiparametric approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 2413-2425, September.
    5. Carlos Garcimartín & Jhonatan Astudillo & André Martínez, 2021. "Inflation and income distribution in Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 315-339, February.
    6. Mohammed Ait Lahcen & Pedro Gomis‐Porqueras, 2021. "A Model of Endogenous Financial Inclusion: Implications for Inequality and Monetary Policy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(5), pages 1175-1209, August.
    7. Eva-Maria Egger & Michael Keller & Jorge Benjamim Mouco, 2025. "The Socio-Economic Impact of Coal Mining in Mozambique," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 34(2), pages 161-183.
    8. Gürer Eren & Weichenrieder Alfons, 2020. "Pro-rich inflation in Europe: Implications for the measurement of inequality," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 107-138, April.
    9. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    10. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Eren Gürer, 2020. "Inflation, Inflationsmessung und Zentralbankpolitik," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(11), pages 834-838, November.
    11. Chen, Siyan & Desiderio, Saul, 2018. "Computational evidence on the distributive properties of monetary policy," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 12, pages 1-32.
    12. Pallotti, Filippo & Paz-Pardo, Gonzalo & Slacalek, Jiri & Tristani, Oreste & Violante, Giovanni L., 2023. "Who bears the costs of inflation? Euro area households and the 2021–2022 shock," Working Paper Series 2877, European Central Bank.
    13. Manoel BITTENCOURT, 2009. "Macroeconomic Performance And Inequality: Brazil, 1983–94," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(1), pages 30-52, March.
    14. Selçuk Gemicioğlu & Burça Kızılırmak & Uğur Akkoç, 2024. "Relative contributions of indirect taxes and inflation on inequality: What does the Turkish data reveal?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 286-309, February.
    15. Channing Arndt & Kristi Mahrt, 2017. "Is inequality underestimated in Mozambique? Accounting for underreported consumption," WIDER Working Paper Series 153, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Ulrik Beck, 2015. "Keep it real: Measuring real inequality using survey data from developing countries," WIDER Working Paper Series 133, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Pallotti, Filippo & Paz-Pardo, Gonzalo & Slacalek, Jiri & Tristani, Oreste & Violante, Giovanni L., 2024. "Who bears the costs of inflation? Euro area households and the 2021–2023 shock," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(S).
    18. Eren Gürer & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2021. "Pro-rich Inflation and Optimal Income Taxation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 49(6), pages 815-844, November.
    19. Manoel Bittencourt, 2007. "Macroeconomic Performance and Inequality: Brazil 1983-1994," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 163, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan & Luis F. Lopez-Calva & Nora Lustig & Daniel Valderrama, 2016. "Understanding the Dynamics of Labor Income Inequality in Latin America," Working Papers 1608, Tulane University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    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:wbk:wbrwps:11011. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.