The decomposition of poverty: a distributive approach to living standards

This study attempts to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of poverty trends using national household consumption survey I and II collected in 1996 and 2001 respectively. The theoretical decomposition frameworks propelling the study are motivated mainly by the Shapley value while empirical estimates are obtained from DAD 4.4. From our findings, we observe that Rural forest and Rural highlands regions were hardest hit by poverty and inequality trends in Cameroon. The result shows that the within-regions effects were found to be more instrumental in accounting for changes in all the classes of poverty measures than the inter-sector population shift effects in the period under review. While the between-region effects were systematically contributing in alleviating poverty in the Rural forest and Rural highlands and at the same time aggravating poverty in Yaounde, Douala. Based on our result, we suggest that policies and strategies for reducing poverty/inequality should place particular emphasis on the countryside and on a region-by-region approach such as decentralization, increase provision of rural extension services (roads, electricity, markets, portable water).