Sensibilidad del análisis de la pobreza a las escalas de equivalencias. Una aplicación para Argentina

Lucia Echeverria

doi:10.4067/S0718-88702022000200023

Authors

Lucia Echeverria CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-1242

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-88702022000200023

Keywords:

Equivalence scales, poverty, income distribution, demographic profile

Abstract

Household equivalence scales serve a key role in measuring income poverty. This paper analyzes poverty trends and levels under a set of alternative equivalence scales for Argentina and explores how the use of different scales modifies the demographic composition of the poor population. Results suggest that poverty levels are indeed affected by the choice of the scale, although trends are robust. There is evidence of changes in the demographic profile of the poor in favor of certain household types according to the scale employed. Results depend on how the poverty line is set.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Lucia Echeverria, CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina

Soy Magister en Economía y candidata a doctora en Economía por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata.Soy becaria doctoral del CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de Argentina. Soy investigadora visitante en la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison (USA) y la Universidad de Verona (Italia). Mis intereses de investigación son: pobreza, consumo, estimación de sistemas de demanda, distribución del ingreso y economía de la familia. Además, me desempeño como docente concursada regular (Jefe de Trabajos Prácticos) en la cátedra de Microeconomía II de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata.

References

Alaiz, M. P., & Perez, C. G. (2007). Tendencias de la distribución personal de la renta en España (1985-2002): Inferencia sobre indicadores y sensibilidad ante encuestas y escalas de equivalencia [Trends in the personal income distribution in Spain (1985-2002): Inference on indicators and sensitivity to surveys and equivalence scales]. Hacienda Pública Española, (181), 49–82.

Atkinson, A. B. (1987). On the measurement of poverty. Econometrica,, 749–764.

Batana, Y., Bussolo, M., & Cockburn, J. (2013). Global extreme poverty rates for children, adults and the elderly. Economics Letters, 120(3), 405–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2013.05.006

Berges, M. (2011). Escalas de equivalencia en el consumo para Argentina [Equivalence scales in consumption for Argentina] [Tesis doctoral]. Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

Berges, M., Echeverria, L., & Rodríguez Biasone, J. I. (2021). El costo de los niños y su impacto en el presupuesto de las familias: Un análisis para Argentina [The cost of children and its impact on family budgets: An analysis for Argentina]. Revista de Análisis Económico, 36(1), 23–48. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-88702021000100023

Betson, D. M., & Muellbauer, J. (2004). Poverty equivalence scales: Adjustment for demographic differences across families [Ponencia]. National Research Council Workshop on Experimental Poverty Measures.

Betti, G., & Lundgren, L. (2012). The impact of remittances and equivalence scales on poverty in Tajikistan. Central Asian Survey, 31(4), 395–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2012.738849

Bibi, S., Makdissi, P., & Yazbeck, M. (2012). Equivalence scales and housing deprivation orderings: An example using Lebanese data. Applied Economics, 44(7), 853–866. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2010.524631

Bradbury, B. (1997). Measuring poverty changes with bounded equivalence scales: Australia in the 1980s. Economica, 64(254), 245–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0335.00076

Buhmann, B., Rainwater, L., Schmaus, G., & Smeeding, T. M. (1988). Equivalence scales, well-being, inequality and poverty: Sensitivity estimates across ten countries using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database. Review of Income and Wealth, 32(2), 115–142. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1988.tb00564.x

Burkhauser, R. V., Smeeding, T. M., & Merz, J. (1996). Relative inequality and poverty in Germany and the United States using alternative equivalence scales. Review of Income and Wealth, 42(4), 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1996.tb00190.x

Burniaux, J. M., Dang, T. T., Fore, D., Förster, M. F., D'Ercole, M., & Oxley, H. (1998). Income distribution and poverty in selected OECD countries (OECD Economics Department Working Paper N.º 189). OECD Publishing.

Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales, & Banco Mundial. (2015). Guía SEDLAC: Base de datos socioeconómicos para América Latina y el Caribe [SEDLAC guide: Socioeconomic database for Latin America and the Caribbean]. http://www.cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/wp/wp-content/uploads/Guia_Metodologica_v201506.pdf

Citro, C., & Michael, R. (1995). Measuring poverty: A new approach. National Academy Press.

Coulter, F., Cowell, F., & Jenkins, S. (1992). Equivalence scales relativities and the extent of inequality and poverty. The Economic Journal, 102(414), 1067–1082.

Deaton, A., & Muellbauer, J. (1980). Economics and consumer behavior (2.ª ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511805653

Deaton, A., & Zaidi, S. (2002). Guidelines for constructing consumption aggregates for welfare analysis (Vol. 135). World Bank Publications.

De Vos, K., & Zaidi, M. A. (1997). Equivalence scale sensitivity of poverty statistics for the member states of the European Community. Review of Income and Wealth, 43(3), 319–334. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1997.tb00222.x

Duclos, J. Y., & Makdissi, P. (2005). Sequential stochastic dominance and the robustness of poverty orderings. Review of Income and Wealth, 51(1), 63–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2005.00145.x

Duclos, J., & Mercader-Prats, M. (1999). Household needs and poverty: With application to Spain and the U.K. Review of Income and Wealth, 45(1), 77–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1999.tb00313.x

Echeverria, L., & Berges, M. (2015). Equivalencias entre gastos de subsistencia para hogares tipo de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires [Equivalences between subsistence expenditures for typical households in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires]. FACES, 21(44), 27–48.

Eltető, Ö., & Havasi, E. (2002). Impact of choice of equivalence scale on income inequality and on poverty measures. Review of Sociology, 8(2), 137–148.

Foster, J., Greer, J., & Thorbecke, E. (1984). A class of decomposable poverty measures. Econometrica, 52(3), 761–766. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913475

Gasparini, L., Cicowiez, M., & Sosa Escudero, W. (2013). Pobreza y desigualdad en América Latina: Conceptos, herramientas y aplicaciones [Poverty and inequality in Latin America: Concepts, tools and applications]. Temas.

Jenkins, S. P., & Lambert, P. J. (1993). Ranking income distributions when needs differ. Review of Income and Wealth, 39(4), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1993.tb00466.x

Lanjouw, P., & Ravallion, M. (1995). Poverty and household size. The Economic Journal,, 1415–1434.

Medina, H. (2002). La sensibilidad de las medidas de pobreza al uso de economías de escala y equivalencias: Evidencia empírica para México, 1984-1998 [The sensitivity of poverty measures to the use of economies of scale and equivalences: Empirical evidence for Mexico, 1984-1998] [Ponencia]. Fourth Meeting of the Expert Group on Poverty Statistics, Rio Group.

Meyer, B. D., & Sullivan, J. X. (2009). Five decades of consumption and income poverty (NBER Working Paper N.º 14827). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Millán, N. (2004). La pobreza en Colombia: Medidas de equivalencia de escala y la dinámica del ingreso per cápita del hogar [Poverty in Colombia: Equivalence scale measures and the dynamics of household per capita income]. Cuadernos PNUD-MPS: Investigaciones sobre desarrollo social en Colombia,, 63–97.

Minujin, A., & Scharf, A. (1989). Adulto equivalente e ingreso per cápita: Efectos sobre la estimación de la pobreza [Equivalent adult and per capita income: Effects on poverty estimation]. Desarrollo Económico,, 113–123.

Pace Guerrero, I. (2013). Escalas de Barten: ¿Qué nos dicen los datos de consumo acerca de las escalas de equivalencia entre los hogares argentinos? [Barten scales: What do consumption data tell us about equivalence scales among Argentine households?] [Ponencia]. XLVIII Reunión Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.

Ravallion, M. (1996). Issues in measuring and modelling poverty. The Economic Journal,, 1328–1343.

Ravallion, M. (2015). On testing the scale sensitivity of poverty measures. Economics Letters, 137, 88–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2015.10.034

Szulc, A. (2006). Poverty in Poland during the 1990s: Are the results robust? Review of Income and Wealth, 52(3), 423–448.

Van Praag, B. M. S. (1968). Individual welfare functions and consumer behaviour. North Holland.

Yuka, T. (2010). Equivalence scales for measuring poverty in transitional Russia: Engel's food share method and the subjective economic well-being method. Applied Economics Letters, 17(4), 351–355.