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An aspect of variable population poverty comparisons

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  • Hassoun, Nicole
  • Subramanian, S.

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the property of Replication Invariance, generally considered to be an innocuous requirement for the extension of fixed-population poverty comparisons to variable-population contexts, is incompatible with other plausible variable- and fixed-population axioms. This fact raises questions about what constitutes an appropriate headcount assessment of poverty, in terms of whether one should focus on the proportion, or the absolute numbers, of the population in poverty. This observation, in turn, has important implications for tracking poverty and setting targets for its reduction or elimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassoun, Nicole & Subramanian, S., 2012. "An aspect of variable population poverty comparisons," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 238-241.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:98:y:2012:i:2:p:238-241
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.07.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nicole Hassoun, 2010. "Another Mere Addition Paradox?: Some Reflections on Variable Population Poverty Measurement," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-120, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. S. Subramanian, 2005. "Headcount Poverty Comparisons," One Pager 18, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
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    6. Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A, 1986. "Properties of Fixed-Population Poverty Indices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(3), pages 667-688, October.
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    8. Satya Chakravarty & Ravi Kanbur & Diganta Mukherjee, 2006. "Population growth and poverty measurement," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 26(3), pages 471-483, June.
    9. Julia Paxton, 2003. "A poverty outreach index and its application to microfinance," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(2), pages 1-10.
    10. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    11. Kundu, Amitabh & Smith, Tony E, 1983. "An Impossibility Theorem on Poverty Indices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(2), pages 423-434, June.
    12. Zheng, Buhong, 1994. "Can a Poverty Index Be Both Relative and Absolute?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(6), pages 1453-1458, November.
    13. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1984. "Social criteria for evaluating population change," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1-2), pages 13-33, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. S. Subramanian & Diganta Mukherjee, 2018. "On Intermediate Headcount Indices Of Poverty," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 443-451, October.
    2. Sanjay G. Reddy & Rahul Lahoti, 2015. "$1.90 Per Day: What Does it Say?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 189, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    3. Luc Christiaensen & Anthony Shorrocks, 2012. "Measuring poverty over time," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(2), pages 137-143, June.
    4. Subramanian S., 2017. "On Comprehensively Intermediate Measures of Inequality and Poverty, with an Illustrative Application to Global Data," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Higgins, Sean & Lustig, Nora, 2016. "Can a poverty-reducing and progressive tax and transfer system hurt the poor?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-75.
    6. Subramanian, Subbu, 2011. "The focus axiom and poverty: On the co-existence of precise language and ambiguous meaning in economic measurement," Economics Discussion Papers 2011-41, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Sean Higgins & Nora Lustig, 2015. "Can Poverty-Reducing and Progressive Tax and Transfer System Hurt the Poor?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 1333, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    8. Markina Oksana, 2022. "Taxation, Inequality, and Poverty: Evidence from Ukraine," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 9(56), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Subramanian, Subbu, 2012. "The focus axiom and poverty: On the co-existence of precise language and ambiguous meaning in economic measurement," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-21.
    10. Sunil Rajpal & Rockli Kim & Lathan Liou & William Joe & S. V. Subramanian, 2020. "Does the Choice of Metric Matter for Identifying Areas for Policy Priority? An Empirical Assessment Using Child Undernutrition in India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 823-841, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Variable populations; Fixed populations; Replication Invariance; Population Focus; Income focus; Impossibility result;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General

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