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Building the integrated inequality database and the seven sins of inequality measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

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  • Giovanni Andrea Cornia

    (Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa)

  • Bruno Martorano

Abstract

The favourable growth performance of SSA over the last twenty years (Figure 1) - emphatically referred to by some as ‘the SSA Renaissance’ or ‘Africa Rising’ - has been accompanied by a perceptible, but still modest decline in poverty, from 59 to 48 percent over 1993-2010, i.e. much less than that recorded in South Asia (Ferreira 2014). Such aggregate trend however conceals substantial cross country variations. How to explain then such differences in poverty reduction rates? The standard approach (Bourguignon 2003) shows that the percentage change in poverty rates can be decomposed in the percentage change in GDP per capita growth rates and the percentage changes in the Gini coefficient, plus a (generally small) residual.2 In this regard, it must be noted that in SSA the average GDP growth per capita oscillated in a narrow range, i.e. between 1.7 percent in non-resource rich countries and 2.6 percent in resource-rich ones. The reason why poverty declined at different rates is therefore to be found in the divergence of inequality trends experienced by the countries of the region. This paper as well as Cornia (2014) and the literature quoted therein argue in fact that over the last 20 years the Gini index of inequality rose in several countries but simultaneously fell in a similar number of them. A proper documentation of inequality trends in the region becomes therefore essential to explain the above mentioned differences in poverty reduction. This task however is hindered by the limited and at time conflicting inequality data in the region and by the lack of a comprehensive database of good-quality and consistent inequality statistics. This situation is even more penalizing when considering that over the last two decades policy formulation has become increasingly ‘evidenced-based’, i.e. based not only on ideological and doctrinal priors but also on the empirical evidence provided by a growing number of household budget surveys (HBS), demographic and health surveys,
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Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Bruno Martorano, 2017. "Building the integrated inequality database and the seven sins of inequality measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers - Economics wp2017_05.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
  • Handle: RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2017_05.rdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Odusola, Ayodele & Bandara, Amarakoon & Dhliwayo, Rogers & Diarra, Becaye, 2017. "Inequalities and Conflict in Africa: An empirical investigation," UNDP Africa Reports 267040, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    2. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa & Ayodele Odusola & Radhika Lal & Rogers Dhilwayo & Isiyaka Sabo & James Neuhaus, "undated". "Drivers of Income Inequality in Burkina Faso, Ghana and the United Republic of Tanzania: A comparative analysis," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2017-15, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    3. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, "undated". "An econometric analysis of the bifurcation of within-country inequality trends in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2011," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2016-04, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    4. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Martorano, Bruno, 2017. "Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, determinants and consequences: The Dynamics of Income Inequality in a Dualistic Economy: Malawi over 1990-2011," UNDP Africa Reports 267648, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    5. Kirsten Stoebenau & Sangeetha Madhavan & Emily Smith‐Greenaway & Heide Jackson, 2021. "Economic Inequality and Divergence in Family Formation in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(4), pages 887-912, December.
    6. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2018. "Eradicating Poverty by 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?)," Working Papers - Economics wp2018_09.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    7. Cornia Giovanni Andrea, 2018. "Eradicating Poverty by the Year 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?)," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, December.
    8. repec:rac:ecchap:2017-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Odusola, Ayodele & Lal, Radhika & Dhliwayo, Rogers & Sabo, Isiyaka & Neuhaus, James, 2017. "Drivers of Income Inequality in Burkina Faso, Ghana and the United Republic of Tanzania: A comparative analysis," UNDP Africa Reports 270551, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    10. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa & Ayodele Odusola & Amarakoon Bandara & Rogers Dhilwayo & Becaye Diarra, "undated". "Inequalities and Conflict in Africa: An empirical investigation," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2017-11, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    11. repec:rac:ecchap:2017-13 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa & Bruno Martorano & Giovanni Andrea Cornia, "undated". "The Dynamics of Income Inequality in a Dualistic Economy: Malawi over 1990-2011," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2017-13, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    13. repec:rac:ecchap:2017-15 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Hoi Wai Jackie Cheng, 2020. "Economic properties of data and the monopolistic tendencies of data economy: policies to limit an Orwellian possibility," Working Papers 164, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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