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Are poor individuals mainly found in poor households ? evidence using nutrition data for Africa

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  • Brown,Caitlin Susan
  • Ravallion,Martin
  • Van De Walle,Dominique

Abstract

Antipoverty policies in developing countries often assume that targeting poor households will be reasonably effective in reaching poor individuals. This paper questions this assumption, using nutritional status as a proxy for individual poverty. The comprehensive assessment for Sub-Saharan Africa reveals that undernourished women and children are spread widely across the distribution of household wealth and consumption. Roughly three-quarters of underweight women and undernourished children are not found in the poorest 20 percent of households, and around half are not found in the poorest 40 percent. The mean joint probability of being an underweight woman and living in the poorest wealth quintile is only 0.03. Countries with higher overall rates of undernutrition tend to have a higher share of undernourished individuals in nonpoor households. The results are consistent with evidence of substantial intrahousehold inequality.

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  • Brown,Caitlin Susan & Ravallion,Martin & Van De Walle,Dominique, 2017. "Are poor individuals mainly found in poor households ? evidence using nutrition data for Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8001, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8001
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    5. Nicolas Berman & Lorenzo Rotunno & Roberta Ziparo, 2020. "Sweet child of mine: Parental income, child health and inequality," AMSE Working Papers 2005, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Dec 2022.
    6. Bevis, Leah E.M. & Naschold, Felix & Rao, Tanvi, 2019. "An unequal burden: Intra-household dimensions of seasonal health in Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Dizon,Felipe Jr Fadullon & Josephson,Anna Leigh & Wang,Zetianyu, 2022. "Intra-Household Inequality in Food Consumption and Diets in the Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10170, The World Bank.
    8. Freude, Boipelo & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2019. "Is women's undernutrition synonymous with household food insufficiency? Evidence from Northern Ghana," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2019-08, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    9. Berman, Nicolas & Rotunno, Lorenzo & Ziparo, Roberta, 2020. "Sweet child of mine: Income, health and inequality," CEPR Discussion Papers 14444, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Maria Sassi, 2020. "Evidence of Between- and Within-Household Child Nutrition Inequality in Malawi: Does the Gender of the Household Head Matter?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 28-50, January.
    11. Alemayehu A. Ambel & Getachew Yirga Belete & Oliver Fiala, 2024. "Fiscal Policy and Child Poverty in Ethiopia," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 221-259, February.
    12. Coates, Jennifer & Patenaude, Bryan N. & Rogers, Beatrice Lorge & Roba, Alemzewed Challa & Woldetensay, Yitbarek Kidane & Tilahun, Addisalem Fikre & Spielman, Kathryn L., 2018. "Intra-household nutrient inequity in rural Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 82-94.
    13. Echeverría, Lucía, 2020. "Modelos colectivos de consumo y distribución intra-hogar. Teoría y aplicaciones," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3832, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality;

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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