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Asset indexes and the measurement of poverty, inequality and welfare in Southeast Asia

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  • Deutsch, Joseph
  • Silber, Jacques
  • Wan, Guanghua
  • Zhao, Mengxue

Abstract

Using data on household consumer durables from the Asian Barometer Survey, this paper examines the evolution of inequality, poverty and welfare in six countries of South East Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. We start by deriving the most common order of acquisition of these durables, using first an algorithm proposed by Paroush (1965), and then Item Response Theory. We also compute the frequency distribution of the number of durables owned by households. We then use these results to compute inequality, poverty and achievement or welfare indices adapted to the case of ordinal variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Deutsch, Joseph & Silber, Jacques & Wan, Guanghua & Zhao, Mengxue, 2020. "Asset indexes and the measurement of poverty, inequality and welfare in Southeast Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:70:y:2020:i:c:s1049007820301007
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2020.101220
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    Cited by:

    1. Vollmer, Frank & Alkire, Sabina, 2022. "Consolidating and improving the assets indicator in the global Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Nattapong Puttanapong & Amornrat Luenam & Pit Jongwattanakul, 2022. "Spatial Analysis of Inequality in Thailand: Applications of Satellite Data and Spatial Statistics/Econometrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Ayala, Luis & Bárcena-Martín, Elena & Cantó, Olga & Navarro, Carolina, 2022. "COVID-19 lockdown and housing deprivation across European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Achievement or welfare indices; Asset indices; Counting approach; Item response theory; Multidimensional poverty; Order of acquisition of durable goods; Ordinal inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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