IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/5249.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A counterfactual analysis of the poverty impact of economic growth in Cameroon

Author

Listed:
  • Essama-Nssah, B.
  • Bassole, Leandre

Abstract

The Government of Cameroon has declared poverty reduction through strong and sustainable economic growth the central objective of its socioeconomic policy. This paper uses available household survey data to assess the performance of the economy with respect to this objective over the period 1996-2007. The authors use counterfactual decompositions based on both the Shapley method and the generalized Oaxaca-Blinder framework to identify proximate factors that might explain differences in observed outcomes over time, across regions and households. The concept of pro-poorness provides a basis for a normative evaluation of these outcomes. The analysis of changes in the size distribution of economic welfare reveals that formal sector employment, access to credit, education, and urban residence are characteristics that bring significantly high returns to households. Employment in smallholder agriculture has a negative impact on welfare across quantiles. Economic growth was accompanied by significant poverty reduction between 1996 and 2001. But poverty barely decreased between 2001 and 2007 due to very weak growth. Over the same period, household investment in human capital took a serious hit. Given the additional finding that the pattern of growth is characterized by urban bias and regional disparity, the overall assessment is that economic growth has been weakly pro-poor in Cameroon. There is therefore a need to re-examine and possibly reform the mechanisms governing the allocation of public resources designed to support individuals'efforts to improve their standard of living.

Suggested Citation

  • Essama-Nssah, B. & Bassole, Leandre, 2010. "A counterfactual analysis of the poverty impact of economic growth in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5249, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5249
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2010/03/25/000158349_20100325082829/Rendered/PDF/WPS5249.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manski, Charles F, 1991. "Regression," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 34-50, March.
    2. Jacques Silber & Michal Weber, 1999. "Labour market discrimination: are there significant differences between the various decomposition procedures?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 359-365.
    3. François Bourguignon & Francisco Ferreira & Phillippe Leite, 2008. "Beyond Oaxaca–Blinder: Accounting for differences in household income distributions," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(2), pages 117-148, June.
    4. Emini, Christian Arnault & Cockburn, John & Decaluwe, Bernard, 2005. "The poverty impacts of the Doha Round in Cameroon : the role of tax policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3746, The World Bank.
    5. Lambert, Peter J & Aronson, J Richard, 1993. "Inequality Decomposition Analysis and the Gini Coefficient Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(420), pages 1221-1227, September.
    6. Arsene Gideon Nkama, 2006. "Analysing the Poverty Impact of the HIPC Initiative in Cameroon," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 18(3), pages 330-352.
    7. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2003. "Measuring pro-poor growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 93-99, January.
    8. Melly, Blaise, 2005. "Decomposition of differences in distribution using quantile regression," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 577-590, August.
    9. Essama-Nssah, B., 2005. "A unified framework for pro-poor growth analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 216-221, November.
    10. Markus Frolich & Blaise Melly, 2010. "Estimation of quantile treatment effects with Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 10(3), pages 423-457, September.
    11. Nanak Kakwani & Hyun H. Son, 2008. "Poverty Equivalent Growth Rate," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(4), pages 643-655, December.
    12. Nguyen, Binh T. & Albrecht, James W. & Vroman, Susan B. & Westbrook, M. Daniel, 2007. "A quantile regression decomposition of urban-rural inequality in Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 466-490, July.
    13. Francis Menjo Baye, 2006. "Growth, Redistribution and Poverty Changes in Cameroon: A Shapley Decomposition Analysis," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(4), pages 543-570, December.
    14. B. Essama‐Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2009. "Measuring Pro‐Poorness: A Unifying Approach With New Results," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 752-778, September.
    15. Blaise Melly, 2005. "Public-private sector wage differentials in Germany: Evidence from quantile regression," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 505-520, September.
    16. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1992. "Growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty measures : A decomposition with applications to Brazil and India in the 1980s," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 275-295, April.
    17. Farshid Vahid & Pushkar Maitra, 2006. "The effect of household characteristics on living standards in South Africa 1993-1998: a quantile regression analysis with sample attrition," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 999-1018.
    18. Mathia Sinning & Markus Hahn & Thomas K. Bauer, 2008. "The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for nonlinear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 480-492, December.
    19. Nanak Kakwani & Shahid Khandker & Hyun H. Son, 2004. "Pro-poor growth: concepts and measurement with country case studies," Working Papers 1, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    20. Pernia, Ernesto & Kakwani, Nanak, 2000. "What is Pro-poor Growth?," MPRA Paper 104987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Farshid Vahid & Pushkar Maitra, 2005. "The Effect of Household Characteristics on Living Standards in South Africa 1993 - 98: A Quantile Regression Analysis with Sample Attrition," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2005-452, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    22. Stanislav Kolenikov & Anthony Shorrocks, 2005. "A Decomposition Analysis of Regional Poverty in Russia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 25-46, February.
    23. Essama-Nssah, B, 1997. "Impact of Growth and Distribution on Poverty in Madagascar," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 43(2), pages 239-252, June.
    24. Ravallion, Martin, 2001. "Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Looking Beyond Averages," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1803-1815, November.
    25. Ben Jann, 2008. "The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 453-479, December.
    26. Essama-Nssah, B., 2007. "A poverty-focused evaluation of commodity tax options," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4245, The World Bank.
    27. B. Essama-Nssah, 2007. "A poverty-focused evaluation of commodity tax options," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(8), pages 1114-1130.
    28. Coulombe, Harold & Mckay, Andrew, 1996. "Modeling determinants of poverty in Mauritania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1015-1031, June.
    29. Kakwani, Nanak, 1993. "Poverty and Economic Growth with Application to Cote d'Ivoire," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 39(2), pages 121-139, June.
    30. Thomas Bauer & Mathias Sinning, 2008. "An extension of the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition to nonlinear models," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 92(2), pages 197-206, May.
    31. Siddiq Osmani, 2005. "Defining pro-poor growth," One Pager 9, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    32. Jenkins, Stephen P & Lambert, Peter J, 1997. "Three 'I's of Poverty Curves, with an Analysis of UK Poverty Trends," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 317-327, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mansour, Wael, 2012. "The patterns and determinants of household welfare growth in Jordan : 2002-2010," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6249, The World Bank.
    2. Essama-Nssah, B., 2012. "Identification of sources of variation in poverty outcomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5954, The World Bank.
    3. Essama-Nssah, , B. & Bassol3, Leandre & Paul, Saumik, 2010. "Accounting for heterogeneity in growth incidence in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5464, The World Bank.
    4. Boniface P Yemba & Inoussa Boubacar, 2018. "On the Merit of Debt Relief Programs in Heavily Indebted Poor Countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 940-956.
    5. Aradhna Aggarwal & Nagesh Kumar, 2012. "Structural Change, Industrialization and Poverty Reduction: The Case of India," Development Papers 1206, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) South and South-West Asia Office.
    6. Sophie CHAUVIN, 2017. "Cameroun: les enjeux de la croissance," Working Paper ad6db33a-936a-4971-8c5b-e, Agence française de développement.

    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. Essama-Nssah, , B. & Bassol3, Leandre & Paul, Saumik, 2010. "Accounting for heterogeneity in growth incidence in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5464, The World Bank.
    2. Essama-Nssah, B., 2012. "Identification of sources of variation in poverty outcomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5954, The World Bank.
    3. B. Essama‐Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2009. "Measuring Pro‐Poorness: A Unifying Approach With New Results," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 752-778, September.
    4. Francisco Azpitarte, 2014. "Was Pro-Poor Economic Growth in Australia for the Income-Poor? And for the Multidimensionally-Poor?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 871-905, July.
    5. Buhong Zheng, 2011. "Consistent comparison of pro-poor growth," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 37(1), pages 61-79, June.
    6. Ali Hashemi, 2016. "Measuring Pro-Poor Growth in Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine," Working Papers 1008, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2016.
    7. Flaviana Palmisano & Vito Peragine, 2015. "The Distributional Incidence of Growth: A Social Welfare Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(3), pages 440-464, September.
    8. Priyabrata Sahoo & Debolina Biswas & Saswata Guha Thakurata, 2023. "Is Growth Pro-poor Among the States of India? A Poverty Decomposition Exercise During the 2000s," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 107-133, January.
    9. Vincenzo Lombardo, 2011. "Growth and Inequality Effects on Poverty Reduction in Italy," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 241-280.
    10. Nicoletta Berardi & Federica Marzo, 2017. "The Elasticity of Poverty with respect to Sectoral Growth in Africa," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(1), pages 147-168, March.
    11. Zaman, Khalid & Khilji, Bashir Ahmad, 2013. "The relationship between growth–inequality–poverty triangle and pro-poor growth policies in Pakistan: The twin disappointments," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 375-393.
    12. Youssoufou Hamadou Douada, 2011. "La dynamique de la croissance est-elle pro-pauvres au Niger ?," Documents de travail 164, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    13. Muhammad Khan & Muhammad Khan & Khalid Zaman & Umar Hassan & Sobia Umar, 2014. "Global estimates of growth–inequality–poverty (GIP) triangle: evidence from World Bank’s classification countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2631-2646, September.
    14. Flaviana Palmisano & Dirk Van de gaer, 2016. "History-dependent growth incidence: a characterization and an application to the economic crisis in Italy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 585-603.
    15. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    16. Flaviana Palmisano, 2012. "The distributional incidence of growth: a non-anonymous and rank dependent approach," SERIES 0039, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Jul 2012.
    17. B. Essama-Nssah & Saumik Paul & Léandre Bassolé, 2013. "Accounting for Heterogeneity in Growth Incidence in Cameroon Using Recentered Influence Function Regression," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(5), pages 757-795, November.
    18. Thomas Groll & Peter J. Lambert, 2013. "The Pro-Poorness, Growth and Inequality Nexus: Some Findings From a Simulation Study," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59(4), pages 776-784, December.
    19. Abdelkrim Araar & Jean‐Yves Duclos & Mathieu Audet & Paul Makdissi, 2009. "Testing For Pro‐Poorness Of Growth, With An Application To Mexico," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(4), pages 853-881, December.
    20. B. Essama-Nssah & Peter J. Lambert, 2013. "Counterfactual decomposition of pro-poorness using influence functions," Working Papers 309, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural Poverty Reduction; Achieving Shared Growth; Regional Economic Development; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    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:wbk:wbrwps:5249. 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.