Fuzzy Chronic Poverty: A Proposed Response to Measurement Error for Intertemporal Poverty Measurement

A number of chronic poverty measures are now empirically applied to quantify the prevalence and intensity of chronic poverty, vis‐à‐vis transient experiences, using panel data. Welfare trajectories over time are assessed in order to identify the chronically poor and distinguish them from the non‐poor, or the transiently poor, and assess the extent and intensity of intertemporal poverty. We examine the implications of measurement error in the welfare outcome for some popular discontinuous chronic poverty measures, and propose corrections to these measures that seeks to minimize the consequences of measurement error. The approach is based on a novel criterion for the identification of chronic poverty that draws on fuzzy set theory. We illustrate the empirical relevance of the approach with a panel dataset from rural Ethiopia and some simulations.     

Inequality of opportunity in earnings and assets in Egypt

ABSTRACT

By most available measures, the level of inequality in the MENA region, including Egypt, is considered relatively low. This regularity applies to both inequality of outcomes as well as inequality of opportunity. This paper challenges this view. It argues specifically that circumstances beyond the control of individuals account for a larger share of inequality of opportunity when asset distribution is considered rather than the distribution of earnings, essentially because earnings are subject to measurement errors and idiosyncratic shocks. The paper tests this proposition by estimating the extent to which factors related to the circumstances a person is born into contribute to inequality of opportunity in earnings as well as asset ownership. The results show that circumstances account 26–32% of inequality of asset distribution, compared with only 8–10% of inequality of opportunity in earnings. The analysis further shows that the area of birth and fathers education level are the two most important circumstance factors contributing to inequality of opportunity, for both assets and earnings.     

Caste, Inequality, and Poverty in India

This paper analyses inequality and poverty in India within the context of caste‐based discrimination. It does so by decomposing the difference between (caste) Hindu and Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households in: their average household incomes; their probabilities of being in different income percentiles; their probabilities of being at different levels of poverty into: a “discrimination effect”, which stems from the fact that a household's income level, into which its (income‐generating) profile translates, depends on whether it is SC/ST; an “attributes (or residual) effect” which stems from the fact that there are systematic differences between SC/ST and Hindu households in their (income‐generating) profiles. The results, based on unit record data for 28,922 households, showed that at least one‐third of the average income/probability differences between Hindu and SC/ST households was due to the “unequal treatment” of the latter.     

中国财政再分配与减贫效应的数量测度

中国正致力于践行共享发展新理念,测算现行财政再分配体系是否以及在多大程度上缓解收入分配差距、减轻贫困,从而实施更为"精准"的财政再分配,是关键一环。本文拓展了传统财政再分配分析方法,将财政收入端和支出端纳入统一研究框架,基于CFPS2012入户调查数据和投入产出表,构建居民收入核算账户,运用标准财政归宿法,测算出中国居民的财政净受益;采用"匿名"与"非匿名"评价指标,综合测度了"一揽子"财政工具的再分配和减贫效应。结果显示:中国财政分配体系对市场分配整体上呈微弱的正向调节效应,财政体系整体使全国基尼系数下降了4.06%,其中,基本社会保险、公共服务、转移支付和直接税的边际贡献分别是2.48%、2.34%、1.75%、1.19%,而间接税的边际贡献为-1.57%,起逆向调节作用;中国财政再分配工具具有显著减贫效应,财政再分配使全国贫困广度、深度和强度均下降20%以上,其中,支出端具有"济贫"性,收入端的间接税具有显著"劫贫"性。总体上,弱累进财政再分配体系甚至逆向调节的财政再分配工具,与共享发展存在矛盾。实现共享发展,迫切需要重构"精准"财政再分配体系,加快构建以税负归宿公平和公共支出受益归宿公平为核心的现代财政制度。     

The Route Matters: Poverty and Inequality among Lone-Mother Households in Russia

Using the case of Russia, this paper takes issue with the stereotype of lone mothers as the poorest women in society, with the most disadvantaged children. Analysis of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey suggests there is enormous diversity in the material circumstances and livelihoods of lone mothers. Complementing the diversity of lone mothers' experiences is the finding that women who live with male partners, but who are responsible economically for their households, face problems much like those of lone mothers. The structural inequities that result from combining paid labor with unpaid care and childrearing have particularly adverse consequences for lone mothers and for women who bear the brunt of maintaining their households. While this analysis emphasizes the different aspects of the falsely homogenizing category “lone mother,” it also recognizes the structural disadvantages shared by lone mothers and other women in Russia today.     

经济增长、收入差距与农村贫困

我国经济转型过程中同时发生的居民收入增长和收入差距扩大对农村贫困减缓具有不同的影响。本文在住户调查数据的基础上,讨论了不同时期经济增长和收入差距对于农村贫困减缓的作用大小,估算了不同年份经济增长和收入差距的贫困减缓弹性,并根据Shapley分解讨论了分项收入对贫困程度的影响以及分项收入不均等性的贫困减缓弹性。     

Restricted and Unrestricted Dominance for Welfare, Inequality, and Poverty Orderings

This paper extends the previous literature on the ethical links between the measurement of poverty, social welfare and inequality. We show inter alia, how, when the range of possible poverty lines is unbounded above, a robust ranking of absolute poverty may be interpreted as a robust ranking of social welfare, and a robust ranking of relative poverty may be interpreted as a robust ranking of inequality, and this, for any order of stochastic dominance.     

Escaping Poverty: Risk-Taking and Endogenous Inequality in a Model of Equilibrium Growth

Recent macroeconomic models of income distribution generate equilibria characterized as poverty traps. These models specify a production indivisibility such that, due to problems of asymmetric information in credit or capital markets, poor agents are never able to acquire the resources necessary to overcome the indivisibility. In the context of an equilibrium growth model, this paper demonstrates that faced with such constraints, poor, risk-averse agents have incentives to voluntarily take on risk in the hopes of exiting poverty. Each period they remain in poverty, they sacrifice a small amount of current consumption to pool resources for this risky activity. Risk-taking, economic mobility, and the distribution of income are generated endogenously. Furthermore, beginning from identical endowments, “initial” inequality also emerges endogenously. It is shown that voluntary risk-taking eliminates many potential steady-state equilibria of this and other models—those that exhibit individual poverty traps. All agents (or dynasties) expect to escape at some future date, perhaps after an extended spell in poverty.     

收入增长与不平等对我国贫困的影响

本文运用两组家计调查数据,采用夏普里(Shaley)分解法实证分析了20世纪90年代收入增长和收入分配的变化在我国贫困变动中的作用,并特别考虑了不同贫困线、贫困指标及等价规模对实证结果的影响。分析结果表明,90年代前半期农村减贫的成功主要归因于收入的增长和不平等的下降。在90年代后半期,农村和城市都经历了不平等的快速上升和收入的缓慢增长。因此,这段时间减贫的速度下降,甚至贫困有所增加。     

我国居民收入差距的短期变动与长期趋势

文章概述了近期我国收入差距变化的基本特点,指出相关政策措施对于我国收入差距的缓解起到了一定的积极作用,但应该看到,由于一些影响收入差距的深层次因素并未得到根本性改变,收入差距不仅改善微妙,而且其政策制度基础具有一定的脆弱性。所以扭转我国居民收入差距不断扩大的态势、改善收入分配格局,依然任重道远。     

Evolutions in Consumption Inequality and Poverty in Greece: The Impact of the Crisis and Austerity Policies

Greece is the country hit hardest by the crisis and subsequent fiscal consolidation strategies, suffering a cumulative output loss of about 30 percent since 2008. The present paper presents evidence that along with declining average living standards, consumption inequality has seriously grown, fueled primarily by a disproportionate drop in the consumption levels of what can be considered the middle class. Although poverty has not significantly risen in relative terms, it climbs to around 45 percent once the poverty threshold is anchored to pre‐crisis levels. Furthermore, significant indirect tax hikes have further increased inequality in consumption expenditure. The paper also shows that several reforms launched in the name of reducing labor costs, broadening the tax base or rationalizing the targeting of social benefits have had detrimental effects on one of the most vulnerable population groups, namely families with children, thus implying that the social consequences of the crisis will be long‐lasting.     

消费不平等的度量、出生组分解和形成机制-兼与收入不平等比较

消费不平等可以反映居民之间真实的福利差异.本文利用1989-2009年CHNS数据,对耐用品存量消费不平等进行了度量和出生组分解,探讨了耐用品存量消费不平等的形成机制,并与收入不平等进行了比较.研究发现:消费不平等一直大于收入不平等,但消费不平等不断下降而收入不平等却日益上升;20世纪70年代出生组具有更高的收入不平等和更低的消费不平等;无论是分时期还是分城乡,收入不平等都是消费不平等变化的最重要因素.     

Sustainability and Wealth of Rural Households: Measurement and Inequality Analysis

A small but growing literature is linking well-being with the value of assets, measured comprehensively. This measure, called comprehensive wealth, has appeared as a leading economic indicator of sustainability by reflecting the potential of future well-being. Despite the concerns of sustainability for policy interventions at the micro-level, the existing literature is limited to country-level estimations. This paper applies the general framework of weak sustainability to measure wealth at the household level. Using data from three rounds of household survey, market prices, and yield data from rural Burkina Faso, we measure wealth, income, and consumption per adult. The results show that wealth has consistently increased over time in contrast to income and consumption which have fluctuated. Wealth is also less unequally distributed. Finally, consumption is found to be more correlated with wealth. This suggests that wealth-based interventions are more likely to improve well-being in a sustainable way.     

Advances in Inequality Measurement and Usefulness of Statistical Inference

Assessment of inequality measurement is the focus for this survey. All measures of inequality must be evaluated based on a set of desirable properties. More importantly, the usefulness of statistical inference for measures of inequality needs examination.

中国城乡老年人口多维贫困测度及减贫效应研究

基于CHFS数据库中个人和家庭数据,补充信息变量对中国老年人口多维贫困进行测度,对比了老年人口多维贫困的地区差异,分析了不同养老保险和医疗保障水平对老年贫困的减贫效应。实证研究表明,随着信息手段的不断深入,信息贫困呈现更显著的特征,信息维度对老年人口多维贫困的影响超过了传统贫困中的收入、资产、健康、消费和心理维度。在减贫效应方面,城乡居民养老金能够有效缓解收入和资产贫困,而城镇职工养老金对六个维度的贫困均能起到有效缓解作用;城乡居民医疗保险对于老年人口资产、收入、心理维度的减贫作用显著,城镇职工医疗保险则能够有效缓解六个维度的贫困。因此,随着中国老龄化的不断深入,应更加关注老年人口的物质贫困与非物质贫困的关系,尤其是扩大信息维度带来的减贫效应,同时对于城乡居民和职工两类老年群体,实施针对性的社会保障政策。     

Advances in Inequality Measurement and Usefulness of Statistical Inference

Assessment of inequality measurement is the focus for this survey. All measures of inequality must be evaluated based on a set of desirable properties. More importantly, the usefulness of statistical inference for measures of inequality needs examination.