IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v155y2021i1d10.1007_s11205-020-02560-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Maneka Jayasinghe

    (Charles Darwin University)

  • Christine Smith

    (Griffith University)

Abstract

The traditional per-capita based poverty measurements that ignore the heterogeneity in household size and composition (and hence the potential economies of scale in consumption) in female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs), appear to underestimate the incidence of poverty of FHHs. Using two waves of Household Income and Expenditure Survey data (2012/2013 and 2016) collected by the Department of Census and Statistics for Sri Lanka, this study examines whether there is a difference between the level of food consumption economies of scale materialised by MHHs and FHHs, and whether FHHs overrepresent the poor after economies of scale in food consumption is incorporated when estimating poverty measurements in Sri Lanka. The Engel curves and implied equivalence scales were used for the empirical analysis. Our results indicate that de-jure FHHs materialise higher economies of scale in food consumption than de-facto FHHs and MHHs, and that the incidence of poverty is higher among de-jure FHHs even after economies of scale for food consumption are allowed for. Adjusting the poverty measurements for consumption economies of scale is critical to identify the poorest of the poor and enhance their welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Maneka Jayasinghe & Christine Smith, 2021. "Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 157-185, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:155:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02560-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02560-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-020-02560-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-020-02560-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trevon D. Logan, 2011. "Economies Of Scale In The Household: Puzzles And Patterns From The American Past," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1008-1028, October.
    2. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Maneka Savithri Jayasinghe & Christine Smith & Andreas Chai & Shyama Ratnasiri, 2016. "The implications of income dependent equivalence scales for measuring poverty in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(12), pages 1300-1314, December.
    4. Blanken, Juergen & Haen, Hartwig de & von Braun, Joachim, 1991. "Commercialization of agriculture under population pressure: effects on production, and nutrition in Rwanda," Research reports 85, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Rachel Griffith & Ephraim Leibtag & Andrew Leicester & Aviv Nevo, 2009. "Consumer Shopping Behavior: How Much Do Consumers Save?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 99-120, Spring.
    6. Smita Ramnarain, 2016. "Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 80-105, January.
    7. Massell, Benton F, 1969. "Consistent Estimation of Expenditure Elasticities from Cross-Section Data on Households Producing Partly for Subsistence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(2), pages 136-142, May.
    8. Kanchana Ruwanpura & Jane Humphries, 2004. "Mundane Heroines: Conflict, Ethnicity, Gender, And Female Headship In Eastern Sri Lanka," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 173-205.
    9. Angus Deaton & Christina Paxson, 1998. "Economies of Scale, Household Size, and the Demand for Food," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 897-930, October.
    10. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1986. "On Measuring Child Costs: With Applications to Poor Countries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 720-744, August.
    11. Victoria Vernon, 2004. "Food Expenditure, Food Preparation Time and Household Economies of Scale," Labor and Demography 0412005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Caitlin Brown & Dominique van de Walle, 2021. "Headship and Poverty in Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(4), pages 1038-1056.
    13. Maneka Jayasinghe & Shyama Ratnasiri & Christine Smith & Andreas Chai, 2018. "Domestic technology, consumption economies of scale and poverty: evidence from Sri Lanka," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(16), pages 1777-1789, April.
    14. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Poverty and Household Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1415-1434, November.
    15. Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2008. "Child-Care Policy and the Labor Supply of Mothers with Young Children: A Natural Experiment from Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 519-548, July.
    16. Nelson, Julie A, 1988. "Household Economies of Scale in Consumption: Theory and Evidence," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1301-1314, November.
    17. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Chai, Andreas & Ratnasiri, Shyama & Smith, Christine, 2017. "The power of the vegetable patch: How home-grown food helps large rural households achieve economies of scale & escape poverty," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 62-74.
    18. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Haddad, Lawrence & Pena, Christine, 2001. "Are women overrepresented among the poor? An analysis of poverty in 10 developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 225-269, October.
    19. Naila Kabeer & Ayesha Khan, 2014. "Cultural Values or Universal Rights? Women's Narratives of Compliance and Contestation in Urban Afghanistan," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 1-24, July.
    20. Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Kaufman, Phillip R., 2003. "Exploring Food Purchase Behavior of Low-Income Households: How Do They Economize?," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33711, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    21. Hossain, Md. Motaher, 2010. "Role of technology in consumption and everyday life in rural Bangladesh," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 130-136.
    22. Dreze, Jean & Srinivasan, P. V., 1997. "Widowhood and poverty in rural India: Some inferences from household survey data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 217-234, December.
    23. Buvinic, Mayra & Gupta, Geeta Rao, 1997. "Female-Headed Households and Female-Maintained Families: Are They Worth Targeting to Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 259-280, January.
    24. van de Walle, Dominique, 2013. "Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-19.
    25. Timothy K.M. Beatty, 2010. "Do the Poor Pay More for Food?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(3), pages 608-621.
    26. Klasen, Stephan & Lechtenfeld, Tobias & Povel, Felix, 2015. "A Feminization of Vulnerability? Female Headship, Poverty, and Vulnerability in Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 36-53.
    27. Lewbel, Arthur, 1989. "Household equivalence scales and welfare comparisons," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 377-391, August.
    28. Maneka Jayasinghe, 2019. "Dynamic trends in household poverty and inequality in Sri Lanka: do gender and ethnicity matter?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 208-223, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Puneet Vatsa & Junpeng Li & Phong Quoc Luu & Julio Cesar Botero‐R, 2023. "Internet use and consumption diversity: Evidence from rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1287-1308, August.
    2. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2022. "Relationship between households’ share of food expenditure and income across South African districts: a multilevel regression analysis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Jared Abigail Valencia-Salvador & Fabio Humberto Sepúlveda-Murillo & Miguel Alfonso Flores-Sánchez & Norely Margarita Soto Builes, 2022. "Spatial Distribution of Social Inequality in the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 753-769, September.
    4. Arun Jentrick, 2023. "Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1264-1277, May.
    5. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2021. "Energy poverty in Sri Lanka," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jayasinghe, Maneka & Chai, Andreas & Ratnasiri, Shyama & Smith, Christine, 2017. "The power of the vegetable patch: How home-grown food helps large rural households achieve economies of scale & escape poverty," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 62-74.
    2. Annamaria Milazzo & Dominique Walle, 2017. "Women Left Behind? Poverty and Headship in Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1119-1145, June.
    3. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Haddad, Lawrence & Pena, Christine, 2001. "Are women overrepresented among the poor? An analysis of poverty in 10 developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 225-269, October.
    4. Ayala Wineman, 2019. "Women’s welfare and livelihoods outside of marriage: evidence from rural Tanzania," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 993-1024, September.
    5. Hanmer,Lucia C. & Rubiano Matulevich,Eliana Carolina & Santamaria,Julieth, 2021. "Differences in Household Composition : Hidden Dimensions of Poverty and Displacement in Somalia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9818, The World Bank.
    6. Md. Matiur Rahman & Seung-Hoon Jeon & Kyoung-Soo Yoon, 2020. "Estimation of Equivalence Scale and Assessment of Its Impact on Poverty Measurement in Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-13, October.
    7. Arun Jentrick, 2023. "Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1264-1277, May.
    8. van de Walle, Dominique, 2011. "Lasting welfare effects of widowhood in a poor country," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5734, The World Bank.
    9. Bargain, Olivier B. & Donni, Olivier, 2009. "The Measurement of Child Costs: A Rothbarth-Type Method Consistent with Scale Economies," IZA Discussion Papers 4654, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. BARGAIN Olivier & DONNI Olivier, 2010. "The Measurement of Child Costs: A Rothbarth-Type Method Consistent with Scale Economies and Parents’ Bargaining," LISER Working Paper Series 2010-30, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    11. Karbasi, A. & Mohammadzadeh, S.H., 2018. "Estimating Household Expenditure Economies of Scale in Iran," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277152, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Klasen, Stephan & Lechtenfeld, Tobias & Povel, Felix, 2015. "A Feminization of Vulnerability? Female Headship, Poverty, and Vulnerability in Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 36-53.
    13. Mallick, Debdulal & Rafi, Mohammad, 2010. "Are Female-Headed Households More Food Insecure? Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 593-605, April.
    14. Wineman, Ayala, 2017. "Women′S Welfare And Livelihoods Outside Of Marriage: Evidence From Rural Tanzania," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 261671, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    15. Admasu,Yeshwas & Alkire,Sabina & Ekhator-Mobayode,Uche Eseosa & Kovesdi,Fanni & Santamaria,Julieth & Scharlin-Pettee[,Sophie, 2021. "A Multi-Country Analysis of Multidimensional Poverty in Contexts of Forced Displacement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9826, The World Bank.
    16. Lucia Hanmer & Eliana Rubiano & Julieth Santamaria & Diana J. Arango, 2020. "How does poverty differ among refugees? Taking a gender lens to the data on Syrian refugees in Jordan," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 208-242, July.
    17. Meenakshi, J. V. & Ray, Ranjan, 2002. "Impact of household size and family composition on poverty in rural India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 539-559, October.
    18. Timothy J. Halliday, 2010. "Mismeasured Household Size and its Implications for the Identification of Economies of Scale," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(2), pages 246-262, April.
    19. Jagannadha Tamvada, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and welfare," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 65-79, January.
    20. van de Walle, Dominique, 2013. "Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-19.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Female headship; Equivalence scales; Economies of scale; Poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:155:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-020-02560-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.