Pro-Poor Growth Using Non-Income Indicators: An Empirical Illustration for Colombia

In this paper, we analyze how the distribution of selected non-income welfare indicators changed between 1997 and 2003 in Colombia. We use multidimensional pro-poor growth measurement techniques and create indices for assets, health, education, and subjective welfare using two alternative weighing techniques: polychoric principal components and normatively selected weights. Results show that while income and expenditures fluctuated according to economic growth, reflecting the effects of the 1999 economic crisis, non-income indicators had minor changes. While income and expenditures decreased for all income percentiles, and relatively more for the richest, the non-income dimensions stagnated and remained in 2003 as unequally distributed as in 1997.Pro-Poor Growth, Inequality, Welfare Measurement, Multidimensionality of Poverty, Latin America, Colombia

Measurement of Trends in Wellbeing, Poverty, and Inequality with Case Studies from Bolivia and Colombia

Reducing poverty and increasing wellbeing in developing countries have become central aims of both the national policy-makers as well as the international community. With the Millennium Development Declaration of 2000, the international community has agreed to focus on poverty reduction and the reduction of deprivation in its many dimensions. This book investigates conceptual and empirical issues on the measurement of trends in wellbeing, poverty, and inequality, illustrated for Bolivia and Colombia. The book contributes significantly to filling data gaps by combining existing data in a new way. Furthermore, it presents an important step forward to focus more on multidimensional outcomes of wellbeing rather than on monetary inputs and to develop tools to monitor the progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Measuring Pro-Poor Progress towards the Non-Income Millennium Development Goals

In order to track progress in MDG1 and explicitly link growth, inequality, and poverty reduction, several measures of \"pro-poor growth\" have been proposed in the literature and used in applied academic and policy work. These measures, particularly the ones derived from the growth incidence curve, allow a much more detailed assessment of the distributional impact of growth and its link to poverty reduction. However, there are no corresponding measures for tracking the distribution of progress in non-income dimensions of poverty, and thus the distribution of progress towards MDGs 2-7. In this paper, we propose to extend the pro-poor growth measurement to non-income dimensions of poverty (particularly health and education). We empirically illustrate the approach for Bolivia and show that it allows a much more detailed assessment of progress towards MDGs 2-7 by focusing on the distribution of progress. Furthermore, this extension also allows an explicit assessment of the linkage between progress in MDG1 and MDGs 2-7 as well as extends traditional incidence analysis by quantifying outcomes in non-income dimensions of poverty along the income distribution.Multidimensionality of Poverty, Millennium Development Goals, Pro-Poor Growth, Growth Incidence Curve, Bolivia

Creating National Poverty Profiles and Growth Incidence Curves with Incomplete Income or Consumption Expenditure Data: An Application to Bolivia

In many developing countries, there does not exist a time series of nationally representative household budget or income surveys, while there often are surveys of regions as well as nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) which lack information on incomes. This makes an analysis of trends and determinants of poverty and inequality impossible. This is also the situation in Bolivia where there exist urban household surveys and nationally representative DHS since 1989, while nationally representative household income surveys only exist since 1997. In this paper, we adjust a technique developed for poverty mapping exercises to link urban household income surveys with DHS data to generate a time series of household income data from 1989 to 2002. Our technique performs well on validation tests, is superior to imputing incomes from assets in the DHS, and is able to generate new information on poverty and inequality in Bolivia.Microsimulation,survey matching,poverty,inequality,pro-poor growth,poverty profile,growth incidence curve,Bolivia

Measuring Pro-Poor Progress towards the Non-Income Millennium Development Goals

multidimensionality of poverty, Millennium Development Goals, pro-poor growth, growth incidence curve, Bolivia

Measuring Pro-Poor Growth with Non-Income Indicators

In order to track progress on MDG1 and explicitly link growth, inequality, and poverty reduction, several measures of ’pro-poor growth’ have been proposed in the literature and used in applied academic and policy work. These measures, particularly the ones derived from the growth incidence curve, allow a much more detailed assessment of the distributional impact of growth and its link to poverty reduction. At the same time, this toolbox has been developed and to date only applied for tracking progress in reducing the income dimension of poverty. There are no corresponding measures for tracking progress on non-income dimensions of poverty, and thus progress on MDGs 2-6. In this paper, we propose to extend the approach of pro-poor growth measurement to non-income dimensions of poverty (particularly health and education). We show theoretically and illustrate with data from Bolivia empirically that it is possible to extend this pro-poor growth toolbox to non-income dimensions and show that it generates new insights. In particular, it allows a much more detailed assessment of progress towards MDGs 2-6 by focusing on the distribution of progress, rather than simply focusing on mean progress. Moreover, this extension allows the assessment of the linkage between progress in income and non-income dimensions of poverty which is an important extension to traditional incidence analysis and furthermore allows an explicit assessment of the linkage between progress in MDG1 and MDGs 2-6.Pro-Poor Growth, Multidimensionality of Poverty, Growth

Measuring Pro-Poor Growth with Non-Income Indicators

One existing shortcoming of current pro-poor growth concepts and measurements is that they are completely focused on income. But growth that is declared to be pro-poor where the measure is based only on income must not automatically imply improvement in the nonincome (or social) dimension of poverty. In our paper, we introduce the multidimensionality of poverty into the pro-poor growth measurement by applying the growth incidence curve to non-income indicators. We investigate if growth in non-income indicators was absolutely and relatively pro-poor. Furthermore, we investigate if the incomepoor benefited from social improvements in linking the development of non-income indicators to the position in the income distribution. We illustrate this empirically for Bolivia between 1989 and 1998 and find that growth was pro-poor both in the income and in the non-income dimension, but results are less clear for the non-income development of the income-poor. --Pro-Poor Growth,Multidimensionality of Poverty,Growth Incidence Curve,Bolivia.

Measurement of Trends in Wellbeing, Poverty, and Inequality with Case Studies from Bolivia and Colombia

Reducing poverty and increasing wellbeing in developing countries have become central aims of both the national policy-makers as well as the international community. With the Millennium Development Declaration of 2000, the international community has agreed to focus on poverty reduction and the reduction of deprivation in its many dimensions. This book investigates conceptual and empirical issues on the measurement of trends in wellbeing, poverty, and inequality, illustrated for Bolivia and Colombia. The book contributes significantly to filling data gaps by combining existing data in a new way. Furthermore, it presents an important step forward to focus more on multidimensional outcomes of wellbeing rather than on monetary inputs and to develop tools to monitor the progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Pro-poor growth using non-income indicators: An empirical illustration for Colombia

In this paper, we analyze how the distribution of selected non-income welfare indicators changed between 1997 and 2003 in Colombia. We use multidimensional pro-poor growth measurement techniques and create indices for assets, health, education, and subjective welfare using two alternative weighing techniques: polychoric principal components and normatively selected weights. Results show that while income and expenditures fluctuated according to economic growth, reflecting the effects of the 1999 economic crisis, non-income indicators had minor changes. While income and expenditures decreased for all income percentiles, and relatively more for the richest, the non-income dimensions stagnated and remained in 2003 as unequally distributed as in 1997

Pro-Poor Growth Using Non-Income Indicators: An Empirical Illustration for Colombia

In this paper, we analyze how the distribution of selected non-income welfare indicators changed between 1997 and 2003 in Colombia. We use multidimensional propoor growth measurement techniques and create indices for assets, health, education, and subjective welfare using two alternative weighing techniques: polychoric principal components and normatively selected weights. Results show that while income and expenditures fluctuated according to economic growth, reflecting the effects of the 1999 economic crisis, non-income indicators had minor changes. While income and expenditures decreased for all income percentiles, and relatively more for the richest, the non-income dimensions stagnated and remained in 2003 as unequally distributed as in 1997