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“Too young to die†. Deprivation measures combining poverty and premature mortality

Author

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  • Baland, Jean-Marie
  • Decerf, Benoit
  • Cassan, Guilhem

Abstract

Most measures of deprivation concentrate on deprivation among the living population and, thus, ignore premature mortality. This omission leads to a severe bias in the evaluation of deprivation. We propose three different measures that combine information on poverty and premature mortality of a population in a meaningful manner. These indices are consistent and satisfy a number of desirable properties unmet by all other measures combining early mortality and poverty. Moreover, these measures are readily computable with available data and easily interpretable. We show that omitting premature mortality leads to an underestimation of total deprivation in 2014 of at least 30% at the world level. We also show that the ranking in terms of deprivation of countries is substantially changed with our measures, and that our nderstanding of the evolution of countries’ deprivation may be reversed when taking premature mortality into account.

Suggested Citation

  • Baland, Jean-Marie & Decerf, Benoit & Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "“Too young to die†. Deprivation measures combining poverty and premature mortality," CEPR Discussion Papers 14059, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14059
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    Cited by:

    1. Decerf, Benoit & Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Mahler, Daniel G. & Sterck, Olivier, 2021. "Lives and livelihoods: Estimates of the global mortality and poverty effects of the Covid-19 pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Jean-Marie Baland & Guilhem Cassan & Benoit Decerf, 2021. "The Poverty-Adjusted Life Expectancy index: a consistent aggregation of the quantity and the quality of life," DeFiPP Working Papers 2101, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Deprivation measurement; Premature mortality; Composite indices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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