Poverty,Inequality and Deprivation in South Africa: An Analysis of the 1993 SALDRU Survey

This paper analyses poverty and inequality in South Africa based on data from a comprehensive multi-purpose household survey undertaken in 1993 to provide baseline statistics on poverty and its determinants to the new government. The paper shows that South Africa has among the highest levels of income inequality in the world and compares poorly in most social indicators to countries with similar income levels. Much of the poverty in the country is a direct result of apartheid policies that denied equal access to education, employment, services, and resources to the black population of the country. As a result, poverty has a very strong racial dimension with poverty concentrated among the African population. In addition, poverty is much higher in rural areas, and particularly high in the former homelands. Poverty among female-headed households and among children is also higher than average. Moreover, poverty is closely related to poor education and lack of employment. The poor suffer from lack of access to education, quality health care, basic infrastructure, transport, are heavily indebted, have little access to productive resources, and are heavily dependent on remittances and social transfers, particularly social pensions and disability grants. The paper uses an income-based definition of poverty for most of the analysis. In addition, it develops a broad-based index of deprivation including income, employment, wealth, access to services, health, education, and perceptions of satisfaction as its components. While on average the two indicators correspond fairly closely, the income poverty measure misses a considerable number of people who are severely deprived in many of the non-income measures of well-being. This group of severely deprived not identified by the income poverty measure consists predominantly of Africans living in rural areas, concentrated particularly in the province of KwaZulu/Natal.     

Gender and Multidimensional Poverty in South Africa: Applying the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

Recent work has shown that the gender gap in income poverty has widened in post-apartheid South Africa even though overall poverty levels have declined. One of the main criticisms of money-metric studies of gendered poverty differences is that income is only one dimension of poverty and that other measures of welfare may better reflect the relative well-being of women and female-headed households. This article presents a multidimensional approach to measuring the gender poverty gap in post-apartheid South Africa. Using data from the 2008 wave of the South African National Income Dynamic Study, the internationally comparable multidimensional poverty index (the MPI) is used to estimate gender differences in a number of different achievements. The findings suggest that the multidimensional gender poverty gap is similar to the poverty gap measured by the conventional money-metric approach at several national poverty lines. However, the MPI poverty differential between female- and male-headed households is slightly narrower than the income poverty gap between these two household types. In order to explore these findings further, the paper decomposes the components of multidimensional poverty by gender and for both female- and male-headed households. The paper concludes by considering how greater investments in health care delivery and in basic services, particularly in rural areas, may yield progress towards gender equality.     

More Inclusive States,Less Poverty Among Immigrants? An Examination of Poverty,Citizenship Stratification,and State Immigrant Policies

Over the last 20 years, policymaking related to immigrant populations has increasingly been conducted at the state-level. State immigrant polices may influence immigrant poverty by determining immigrants’ level of access to social, economic, political, and health resources and by shaping the social environment. Further, these immigrant policies may shape the stratification between citizens and noncitizens, potentially contributing to distinct patterns of disparities in poverty by both citizenship and race/ethnicity. To assess the relationship between immigrant policy and socioeconomic stratification of immigrants across citizenship status and race/ethnicity in the U.S., we combined data from the 2014 American Community Survey and a measure of level of inclusion of state immigrant policies. We estimated fixed-effects logistic regressions to test the associations between poverty and the interaction of level of inclusiveness, citizenship, and race/ethnicity, controlling for state- and individual-level characteristics. Results showed that there are significant disparities in poverty by citizenship status and race/ethnicity. Asian/Pacific Islander (API) noncitizens experienced lower levels of poverty in states with higher levels of inclusion. Both Latino and API citizens experienced lower levels of poverty in states with higher versus lower levels of inclusion. Among Latinos, the gap in poverty rates between noncitizens and citizens is larger in more inclusive than less inclusive ones, suggesting that the potential positive impact of more inclusive environments does not necessarily translate to the most vulnerable Latino group. The level of inclusion was not associated with differences among Whites and Blacks. Findings suggest that states with more inclusive immigrant policies may foster environments that advance the economic well-being of API noncitizens, as well as API and Latino citizens.     

"Struggling to Keep the Wolf from the Door"? Analysis of Rural Poverty Using a Consumption-Based Approach in West Belesa District,Ethiopia

Ethiopia has one of the highest poverty rates in the world where 24% of the population lives in extreme poverty. While urban poverty reduced from 26% in 2011 to 15% in 2016, rural poverty reduced only from 30 to 26% in the same periods. Improper identification of the rural poor and ill-understanding of the extent of rural poverty is among the challenges in designing appropriate poverty reduction interventions in rural areas. Thus, this study analyzes the extent of rural poverty employing a consumption-based approach and identifies the determinants of rural poverty at a household level. A household survey was conducted and data were randomly collected from 194 households from four representative villages in the west Belesa district of Ethiopia. The food and non-food consumption measurement calculated by the cost of basic need approach were 2949.40 ETB (ETB is Ethiopian Birr, which is the Ethiopian currency. 1 ETB is equivalent to 0.025 US$) and 1485.78 ETB per year per Adult Equivalent (AE), respectively. The rural poverty indices (i.e. headcount index, poverty gap, and squared poverty gap) calculated based on the consumption-based poverty line were 38.1, 8.84, and 3.1%, respectively. The binary logit analysis shows that having a bigger family had a significant and positive relationship with rural poverty. Conversely, larger landholding, plowing oxen, and livestock ownership as well as a higher amount of non/off-farm income have a significant and negative relationship with the poverty status of households. The study found that rural poverty is deep and complex in the study area calling for the design of location-specific and holistic poverty reduction strategies.

     

Child labour in the Era of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of Tanzania

Exploitation of child labour is an endemic problem in sub-Saharan Africa. The situation is increasingly worsening due to increasing poverty and HIV/AIDS. We carried out a study to understand how the AIDS epidemic facilitates the presence of child labour in Iringa Rural District in Tanzania. The findings revealed that children opt for early participation in the labour force due to the ever-increasing poverty existing at their household level. There is a correlation between poverty and HIV/AIDS in general, and particularly between HIV/AIDS and the poor socio-economic condition of orphans. Current interventions to stop child labour do not yield good results because of low level of awareness on child labour issues at village levels. The government and its partners, such as ILO, should improve the coordination between the district and the communities (villages) in order to make sure that communities at the village level are reached and assisted. Furthermore, reducing rural poverty is imperative if child labour is to be eliminated.     

Poverty and Wellbeing at the ‘Grassroots’—How Much is Visible to Researchers?

This paper discusses the grassroots level understanding of poverty and wellbeing. There is rich debate and ever expanding literature on the meaning of wellbeing and poverty and their relationship in developing countries. In recent times wellbeing and poverty have been scrutinised within the discourse on multidimensionality of poverty. Most research outputs though are grounded in quantitative data. Investigations that focus on the perceptions and understandings of poor people about their situations remain sparse in the literature. The current study is an attempt to address this gap. The paper explores the common grounds and the points of departure between the researchers’ views of poverty and wellbeing and the perception at the grassroots. The paper presents findings of primary research conducted by the author in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh and Madhubani district of Bihar in India. Semi-structured survey instruments were deployed to interview a selection of poor, marginal and non-poor households. In addition to identifying the commonalities in grassroots and researchers’ understandings of poverty, the paper draws attention to factors that may be outside the radar of the researchers. It is envisaged that mapping a more holistic understanding of poverty and wellbeing will have important long-term policy implications for poverty reduction.

Differences in Life Expectancy and Disability Free Life Expectancy in Italy. A Challenge to Health Systems

Background Measures of health expectancy such as Disability Free Life Expectancy are used to evaluate and compare regional/national health statuses. These indicators are useful for understanding changes in the health status and defining health policies and decisions on the provision of services because provide useful information on possible areas needing interventions and burden of care to health systems. Methods Two databases have been used for the analysis: the Italian Health Interview Survey and the European Community Household Panel. The data were analyzed by gender and geographic area. DFLE was calculated by the Sullivan method. Results In 2005 in Italy women have a longer life expectancy than men: 84 and 78 years, respectively. But if we consider life without disability in Italy the male disadvantage reduces: men live 85% of their years without disability, women only 75%. Geographic differences do exist because Disability Free Life Expectancy is longer in Northern and in Central regions; shorter in the South. At a European level similar data can be found: on average women live longer but they have a longer time of life with disability. Conclusion In Italy women live longer but have a worse quality of health than men; in the South there is a worse quality of health. Similar findings can be identified at a European level. The Italian situation with the highest percentage of DFLE at 65 out of the total LE at 65 and one of the longest LE witnesses ageing is not necessarily associated to a worsening of health.     

Estimation of Disaggregate-Level Poverty Incidence in Odisha Under Area-Level Hierarchical Bayes Small Area Model

Sustainable development goal-1 of the United Nations is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. The estimates of poverty related parameters obtained from large scale sample survey are often available at large domain level (e.g. state level). But, poverty rates are not uniformly distributed across the regions. The regional variations are masked in such large domain level estimates. However, for monitoring the progress of poverty alleviation programmes aimed at reduction of poverty often require micro or disaggregate level estimates. The traditional survey estimation approaches are not suitable for generating the reliable estimates at this level because of sample size problem. It is the main endeavor of Small Area Estimation (SAE) approach to produce micro level statistics with acceptable precision without incurring any extra cost and utilizing existing survey data. In this study, the Hierarchical Bayes approach of SAE has been applied to generate reliable and representative district level poverty incidence for the State of Odisha in India using the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011–2012 data of National Sample Survey Office and linked with Population Census 2011. The results show the precise performance of model based estimates generated by SAE method to a greater extent than the direct survey estimates. A poverty map has also been produced to observe the spatial inequality in poverty distribution.

     

Does regional variation affect ecological mortality research? An examination of mortality, income inequality and health infrastructure in the Mississippi Delta

Mortality research has often focused on individual-level, socioeconomic, and demographic factors indicating health outcomes. Consistent with a recent trend in the public health field, this research examines mortality at the aggregate, contextual level. Based on Wilkinson’s relative income hypothesis, specifically being manifest through an underinvestment in social goods including health infrastructure, the focus of this study is a regional examination in the effects of income inequality on mortality at the county level. Health infrastructure is included as a mediating variable in the relationship between income inequality and mortality, relating back to Wilkinson’s work. Unlike previous research, regional differences in this relationship are examined to identify variation at the county level in health outcomes. The Mississippi Delta is an adequate test bed to examine the relationship between these variables based on its socioeconomic, demographic, and high inequality characteristics. It is hypothesized that Delta-designated counties within the three-state Delta region distinguish a significant positive relationship between income inequality and mortality, that this relationship is stronger than in non-Delta classified counties, and that health infrastructure significantly mediates the relationship between income inequality and mortality.     

The Effect of School Quality on Black-White Health Differences: Evidence From Segregated Southern Schools

This study assesses the effect of black-white differences in school quality on black-white differences in health in later life resulting from the racial convergence in school quality for cohorts born between 1910 and 1950 in southern states with segregated schools. Using data from the 1984–2007 National Health Interview Surveys linked to race-specific data on school quality, we find that reductions in the black-white gap in school quality led to modest reductions in the black-white gap in disability.     

新疆农村贫困程度测度与扶贫资金动态绩效分析

新疆作为一个多民族、多宗教、多文化、多语言共存的特殊地区,扎实应对和稳步解决新疆贫困问题,事关祖国边疆的安全与稳定。首先,通过测算1994—2009年FGT贫困指数后发现:新疆农村的贫困广度、贫困深度和贫困强度的变化趋势具有波动性和阶段性特征,而且近几年减贫速度明显放缓,甚至有趋于加重的趋势;新疆农村居民的收入差距状况也不容乐观,正处于危险的边缘。然后,利用状态空间模型分析扶贫资金对贫困程度的动态扶贫绩效,得出以下结论:信贷扶贫资金的整体表现最佳,财政扶贫资金作用居中,以工代赈资金则在降低贫困强度方面表现较好;同时,总结出以下规律:当贫困程度较深时,具有较强盈利性的信贷扶贫资金和较强扩散性的财政扶贫资金更为有效;当由大范围贫困转为少数人贫困时,具有较强针对性的以工代赈资金更为有效。     

Determinants of Subjective Well-Being and Poverty in Rural Pakistan: A Micro-Level Study

Drawing on unique survey data for rural Pakistan, we investigate the impact of socio-demographic factors on happiness index with particular emphasis on subjective well-being measurement to evaluate poverty and its different components. The data elicits information on overall well-being in terms of household’s happiness with the current socio-economic status. We estimate a happiness model to explore to what extent a well-being perspective adds to our understanding of poverty. We find that the well-being approach closely depicts the idea of well-being poverty in terms of the level education, health and income which matter significantly. Moreover unlike developed nations where children have a negative impact on overall well-being, this study suggests a positive impact on well-being and poverty. As studies employing good data from developing countries are rare, this paper can potentially make a good contribution to the existing happiness literature, with special reference to Pakistan.     

Multidimensionl Poverty and The Role of Social Capital in Poverty Alleviation Among Ethnic Groups in Rural Vietnam: A Multilevel Analysis

This paper empirically examines the disparities over time across six dimensions of poverty (monetary, education, health, housing, basic services, and durable assets) between ethnic minority and majority households in rural Vietnam. Using the five-wave panel data of the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) 2008–2016, we observe improvements in most non-monetary dimensions of poverty for both ethnic groups, while the monetary dimension shows the highest degrees of deprivation and the lowest rate of decrease during the studied period. Health is the only dimension in which ethnic minority households are not only better off than those of majority households during the studied period, but also report improvement. We further explore the role of social capital in ethnic minorities and non-minorities at household and community levels in multiple dimensions of poverty by employing multilevel models. Our study reports the significant effects social capital have at the community level on reducing poverty in the monetary, education, housing, and basic services dimensions for ethnic minorities, while social capital at the household level shows significant effects on monetary, basic services, and durable assets. These findings indicate that policy makers ought to consider the role of social capital when designing poverty alleviation strategies for the country.

     

Mapping the uninsured using secondary data: an environmental justice application in Dallas

Over the last 5 years, environmental justice (EJ) researchers have been calling for incorporation of health outcomes more directly into spatial studies of socio-demographics and environmental hazards. To date, researchers have not incorporated insurance status (an access to health care variable) in their models although access to care likely has an important association with the probability of health effects due to environmental exposures. As such, insurance status represents an important variable within spatial EJ studies focused on health, and the lack of spatially explicit access to care data is a critical limitation in the field. As a solution, we offer a method of using uninsured appendicitis cases, acquired secondarily from state hospital admissions data, to estimate rates of uninsurance at the zip-code level. We apply the technique to explore relationships between cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants and estimated rates of uninsurance, a previously unexplored phenomenon. Then, we compare the uninsurance findings to those related to poverty to illustrate how uninsurance, as a variable, compares to a more traditional socio-economic predictor used in EJ studies. The relationship between cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants and uninsurance is weaker than the relationship between risk and poverty, but both are statistically significant. As such, we conclude with a discussion of the importance of considering insurance status in spatial studies of EJ focused on health.     

Poverty in People with Disabilities: Indicators from the Capability Approach

People with disability are particularly exposed to poor living conditions: on one hand they have more difficulties in getting an income cause to their inabilities, on the other hand conditions of poverty increase the risk of disability. However, little rigorous quantitative research has been undertaken to measure the real impact of disability on poverty. Methods based on monetary set (income and consumption) may not reflect the real possibility to convert resources into the fulfilment of personal goals. The capability approach, developed by A. K. Sen, offers a useful framework for the evaluation and assessment of individual well-being considering both monetary and non-monetary resources. The study describes a methodology, derived from the capability approach, to estimate the additional income needed for various types of household with and without disabled members to ensure the same satisfaction with economic resources. The method has been applied to the Italian contest, where 2.6 million people with disability live, and then the results are compared with the findings from an analogous study conducted in UK. The study reveals that disabled people in Italy need an income level two times higher to enjoy the same level of economic satisfaction, while in UK 50% of extra resource are sufficient. The findings suggests that traditional evaluations based on consumption lead to an underestimation of the needs of household containing disabled members. It follows that the financial benefits envisaged by actions planned by government through current instruments may not be completely effective.     

Assessing How Participators Combine Acts in Their “Political Tool Kits”: A Person-Centered Measurement Approach for Analyzing Citizen Participation

The aim of this paper is to highlight some key issues and challenges in the analysis of poverty at the local level using survey data. In the last years there was a worldwide increase in the demand for poverty and living conditions estimates at the local level, since these quantities can help in planning local policies aimed at decreasing poverty and social exclusion. In many countries various sample surveys on income and living conditions are currently conducted, but their sample size is not enough to obtain reliable estimates at local level. When this happens, small area estimation (SAE) methods can be used. In this paper, a SAE model is used to compute the mean household equivalised income and the head count ratio for the 57 Labor Local Systems of the Tuscany region in Italy for the year 2011. The caveats of the analysis of poverty at the local level using small area methods are many, and some are still not so well explored in the literature, starting from the definition of the target indicators to the relevant dimensions of their measurement. We suggest in this paper that together with the universally recognized multidimensional, longitudinal and local dimensions of poverty, a new dimension must be considered: the price dimension, which should take into account local purchasing power parities to correctly compare the poverty indicators based on income measures.     

Do Income Surveys Overestimate Poverty in Western Europe? Evidence from a Comparison with Institutional Frameworks

Comparative poverty research flourishes,especially since comparable income data areeasily available through the Luxembourg IncomeStudy. However, widely-used income surveyssuffer from a number of methodological pitfallsfor comparative poverty research. This researchreport uses the data available in theLuxembourg Income Study for three countries –Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom – toexemplify the limited comparability ofwidely-used income data used in povertyresearch. In a simple simulation exercise,entitlements to means-tested benefits areimputed for each household in the sample, basedon the institutional regulations in eachcountry. Compared to actual poverty rates inthe original sample, imputed poverty rates aremarkedly smaller, if not reduced to zero. Evenif one accounts for an incomplete take-up ofbenefits, a large gap between actual andsimulated poverty rates still remains, largelycaused by problems in survey design. The paperconcludes with a number of recommendations forimproving income surveys from the perspectiveof comparative poverty research.     

Missing the Unhealthy? Examining Empirical Validity of Material Deprivation Indices (MDIs) Using a Partial Criterion Variable

This study investigates the empirical validity of the material deprivation indices (MDIs) using a partial criterion variable, namely UHCNIR (unmet health care need due to inadequate resources). This alternative approach helps to assess absolute validity (Type I and II errors) and sources of error in the measurement of poverty for a specific aspect of poverty (in this case inability to receive adequate health care due to affordability problems). A simple mismatch analysis identifies a sizable group, around 1% of the adult EU population, missed by MDIs despite being in UHCNIR. A majority of this 1% experiences not only UHCNIR but also multiple other deprivations, commonly reports having some difficulties making ends meet, and prevalently has a disability or a chronic health problem. The analysis reveals that MDIs miss specifically those “unhealthy poor” since these measures do not include a relevant item, and thus cannot adjust for different needs and costs in health care and account for the distinct poverty experiences of these people. Therefore, the main methodological assumption of MDIs, identifying the people in poverty with only a limited set of key deprivation indicators is not supported by this empirical analysis.     

Population and Poverty in Classical Theory: Testing a Structural Model for India

There has for many years been debate over the relationships between population growth rates and poverty. India is a country which provides a good testing ground for hypotheses about this relationship because since Independence a relatively high proportion of the population have lived in poverty; and there also exist reasonable data. This paper develops a simple structural model to investigate the relationship between population growth and poverty in particular, testing a series of hypotheses developed from the work of Marx and Malthus. The data are analysed at state level, and attention is drawn to the problems that this might cause as behaviour is typically determined at the individual household level. The results show that agricultural productivity and the process of landlessness are better predictors of poverty at a state level than the population growth rate. It is argued that the results fit better with the views of Marx than those of Malthus.     

The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Economic Well-Being: A Comparison Across Household Types

Using survey data from Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients in Madison County, New York, we evaluate the effectiveness of the EITC in improving the economic well-being of low-income households. In particular, we examine the impact of the EITC across household types. For tax years 2002 through 2004, we find that the EITC is responsible for significantly lowering the poverty rate of EITC recipients, from 57 to 49%. In fact, for households below the poverty line, the EITC fills 31% of the gap between their adjusted gross income and the poverty line. The EITC has the largest impact on single parent households, lowering their poverty rate by 11.2 percentage points and reducing their poverty gap by almost 35%. However, the EITC has negligible effects on the poorest households in the sample—childless singles. A majority (64%) of EITC recipients intends to use at least some of the refund on basic needs and almost half plan on using part of their refund for debt repayment. This suggests that the EITC helps the majority of recipients get by but does not increase their economic mobility. Somewhat surprisingly, single parent households in the sample are not that different from married parent households in terms of EITC amounts, poverty rates, use of credit, and participation in government programs, despite earning less.