Poverty Estimating Poverty for Indigenous Groups by Matching Census and Survey Data

It is widely held that indigenous Chileans experience greater rates of poverty and indigence than non-indigenousChileans, yet the evidence to date has been based on surveys that are not representative by ethnicity. In this paper,we use poverty mapping methodologies that are typically applied to geography to develop statistically preciseestimates of poverty, indigence, poverty gaps, and indigence gaps for each of the eight indigenous groupsrecognized by Chilean law. We find that indigenous people experience higher rates of poverty and indigence andgreater depth of poverty and indigence than non-indigenous people. These results hold within individual regions,suggesting that the differential access to economic opportunities in different parts of the country cannot fully explainthe results. We also find that the burden of poverty is not shared equally across indigenous groups. Instead, theMapuche and Aymará experience disproportionately high poverty rates. We argue that including ethnicity incriteria for identifying poor households may help policy-makers to improve antipoverty targeting.Poverty; Indigence; Ethnicity; Poverty Mapping; Chile

Estimating Poverty for Indigenous Groups in Chile by Matching Census and Survey Data

It is widely held that indigenous Chileans experience greater rates of poverty and indigence than non-indigenous Chileans, yet the evidence to date has been based on surveys that are not representative by ethnicity. In this paper, we use poverty mapping methodologies that are typically applied to geography to develop statistically precise estimates of poverty, indigence, poverty gaps, and indigence gaps for each of the eight indigenous groups recognized by Chilean law. We find that indigenous people experience higher rates of poverty and indigence and greater depth of poverty and indigence than non-indigenous people. These results hold within individual regions, suggesting that the differential access to economic opportunities in different parts of the country cannot fully explain the results. We also find that the burden of poverty is not shared equally across indigenous groups. Instead, the Mapuche and Aymar· experience disproportionately high poverty rates. We argue that including ethnicity in criteria for identifying poor households may help policy-makers to improve antipoverty targeting.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64360/1/wp932.pd

Estimating Poverty for Indigenous Groups in Chile by Matching Census and Survey Data

It is widely held that indigenous Chileans experience greater rates of poverty and indigence than non-indigenous Chileans, yet the evidence to date has been based on surveys that are not representative by ethnicity. In this paper, we use poverty mapping methodologies that are typically applied to geography to develop statistically precise estimates of poverty, indigence, poverty gaps, and indigence gaps for each of the eight indigenous groups recognized by Chilean law. We find that indigenous people experience higher rates of poverty and indigence and greater depth of poverty and indigence than non-indigenous people. These results hold within individual regions, suggesting that the differential access to economic opportunities in different parts of the country cannot fully explain the results. We also find that the burden of poverty is not shared equally across indigenous groups. Instead, the Mapuche and Aymará experience disproportionately high poverty rates. We argue that including ethnicity in criteria for identifying poor households may help policy-makers to improve antipoverty targeting.Poverty; Indigence; Ethnicity; Poverty Mapping; Chile

Poverty, Indigence and Public Investment in Bolivia: A Simulation Analysis

The study of the impact of public investment on poverty is currently of particular importance due to, among other factors, the commitments that several countries have acquired in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals and the current political situation which gives a more prominent role the government in the economy. We use a general equilibrium model to analyze the impact of public investment on income from various sectors of the economy. Subsequently, we use these results to impute income in the MECOVI 2007 survey. In this way, we calculate various measures of poverty and indigence, and analyze its evolution over time. The estimated measurements indicate that public investment has a positive effect in reducing poverty and indigence in Bolivia, however this effect is small. The most important results are evident in the headcount index that is reduced about 3 points in a scenario of high public investment and 2 points in a scenario like the current investment. However, the results for the poverty gap and severity of poverty and indigence are more modest.Model; MECOVI; Public Investment; Policy; Poverty

Financial access to health care in Karuzi, Burundi: a household-survey based performance evaluation.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: In 2003, Médecins Sans Frontières, the provincial government, and the provincial health authority began a community project to guarantee financial access to primary health care in Karuzi province, Burundi. The project used a community-based assessment to provide exemption cards for indigent households and a reduced flat fee for consultations for all other households. METHODS: An evaluation was carried out in 2005 to assess the impact of this project. Primary data collection was through a cross-sectional household survey of the catchment areas of 10 public health centres. A questionnaire was used to determine the accuracy of the community-identification method, households' access to health care, and costs of care. Household socioeconomic status was determined by reported expenditures and access to land. RESULTS: Financial access to care at the nearest health centre was ensured for 70% of the population. Of the remaining 30%, half experienced financial barriers to access and the other half chose alternative sites of care. The community-based assessment increased the number of people of the population who qualified for fee exemptions to 8.6% but many people who met the indigent criteria did not receive a card. Eighty-eight percent of the population lived under the poverty threshold. Referring to the last sickness episode, 87% of households reported having no money available and 25% risked further impoverishment because of healthcare costs even with the financial support system in place. CONCLUSION: The flat fee policy was found to reduce cost barriers for some households but, given the generalized poverty in the area, the fee still posed a significant financial burden. This report showed the limits of a programme of fee exemption for indigent households and a flat fee for others in a context of widespread poverty

Income Distribution and Poverty in the Republic of Haiti

After decades of stagnation and economic decline coupled with political upheavals, the Republic of Haiti is today the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. The present research reveals that this country is also where income is worst distributed in the most unequal region of the world, viz., Latin America and the Carribbean. We use the 2001 Haiti Living Conditions Survey for distributive analysis and poverty assessment to try to make manifest the potential links between household well-being and individual socio-economic characteristics. One particular finding is that access to land does not help the poor escape poverty. Complementary to the inequality and poverty profiles constructed herein, a relatively new methodology using weighted least squares for complex survey is adopted to additively decompose inequality by multiple factor components. Also, we estimate a polychotomous ordered logic to investigate the risk of being indigent or poor.Republic of Haiti, inequality, multiple factor components decomposition, poverty, stochastic dominance

Poverty and Inequality among Ethnic Groups in Chile

Despite two decades of rapid growth, indigenous Chileans are disproportionately poor. However, income data obtained from non-representative surveys yield imprecise estimates of poverty and inequality. This paper therefore estimates poverty and inequality using poverty mapping methods. In contrast to previous studies, however, we use ethnicity rather than geography as a basis for disaggregation. We find that indigenous Chileans are significantly poorer than non-indigenous people, but that inequality rates are also lower for indigenous groups. These reliable estimates of poverty and inequality may augment the antipoverty targeting criteria used in Chile, helping policy-makers to better identify poor households.Latin America; Chile; Poverty; Inequality; Ethnicity; Poverty Mapping

Poverty and Employability Effects of Workfare Programs in Argentina

In 1993 Argentina began implementing workfare programs, and workfare has become a central public policy starting 2002 when the government increased the number of beneficiaries from 100,000 to 2 million people in a country of 38 million. We explore targeting, poverty and employability effects of workfare before 2002 based on the permanent household survey (EPH). We find that the program was pro-poor although more than one third of participants did not satisfy the eligibility criteria. Our estimates suggest that the income of participants increased during treatment - particularly for women - indicating beneficial short run poverty effects. However, the long run effects of the program are not obvious due to selection on treatment completion. We present evidence suggesting that -for a large fraction of participants- the program generated dependency and did not increase their human capital.Workfare, evaluation, Argentina