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Mortality and poverty measurement

In: Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation

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  • Benoit Decerf

Abstract

This chapter surveys the small branch of literature inside welfare economics that studies normative indicators combining poverty and mortality. A distinction is made between two reasons for constructing such indicators. The first reason is to perform multidimensional well-being comparisons. For this purpose, mortality has (negative) intrinsic value and the key question relates to the trade-off that the indicator makes between poverty and mortality. The second reason is to investigate the instrumental role that selective mortality– the fact that the poor tend to die earlier – has on the evolution of poverty measures. Then, the key question is how to define the counterfactual situation against which the instrumental impact of mortality is assessed. The main message of this survey is that some of the indicators proposed recently indicators may be useful in order to express the trade-off between the quality and quantity of life in a transparent way.

Suggested Citation

  • Benoit Decerf, 2023. "Mortality and poverty measurement," Chapters, in: Jacques Silber (ed.), Research Handbook on Measuring Poverty and Deprivation, chapter 53, pages 572-580, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20574_53
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