Measuring Poverty: Context-Specific but not Relative

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTIAN NIEMIETZ
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Context Specific

AbstractPoverty in developed countries is commonly defined in relative terms. It is argued that a relative definition formalises the insight that poverty is a context-specific phenomenon, and that the understanding of what constitutes poverty changes with overall economic development. Yet this article argues that tagging a poverty line to mean or median incomes does not automatically anchor it in its social context. Relative measures rely on the implicit assumptions that social norms are formed at the national level, and that median income earners set social standards. A comparison with studies on ‘Subjective Well-Being’ (SWB) shows that these assumptions are rather arbitrary. At the same time, relative indicators do not take account of changes in the product market structure that disproportionately affect the poor. If low-cost substitutes for expensive items become available, the poor will be relatively more affected than median income earners. Conventional ‘absolute poverty’ indicators will be equally dismissed for not solving these problems either. A combined ‘Consensual Material Deprivation’ and ‘Budget Standard Approach’ indicator will be proposed as a more robust alternative.

Locating the “poverty threshold” in Russia

2018 ◽  
pp. 104-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. D. Slobodenyuk ◽  
V. A. Anikin
Keyword(s):  
Family Income ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Subsistence Level ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
Poverty Threshold ◽  
The Poor

The present paper focuses on identification of relative “poverty line” and a threshold of high poverty risks. The paper also studies key poverty factors in contemporary Russia. It demonstrates that the relative approach to poverty which is widely used in Western countries is applicable in Russia too. However, the relative poverty thresholds set at 0.5 and 0.75 medians per capita family income identify quite different groups of the poor. The threshold of 0.5 median income indicates deep poverty happened mostly to the unemployed workforce. The relative poverty threshold equal to 0.75 median income identifies the poverty of the elderly who are not considered as the poor by the absolute approach because pensions of Russians have been recently equalized to the subsistence level. Above all, the paper provides econometric estimates of socio-economic determinants of both absolute and relative poverty. It was revealed that the relative deep poverty of the working population was primarily caused by “bad” jobs rather than by “bad” human capital. Absolute poverty of workers is more or less determined by both factors.

scholarly journals Social health insurance for the poor: lessons from a health insurance programme in Karnataka, India

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. e000582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Sood ◽  
Zachary Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Social Health Insurance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Social Health ◽  
The Poor

Life-saving technology used to treat catastrophic illnesses such as heart disease and cancer is often out of reach for the poor. As life expectancy increases in poor countries and the burden from chronic illnesses continues to rise, so will the unmet need for expensive tertiary care. Understanding how best to increase access to and reduce the financial burden of expensive tertiary care is a crucial task for the global health community in the coming decades. In 2010, Karnataka, a state in India, rolled out the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme (VAS), a social health insurance scheme focused on increasing access to tertiary care for households below the poverty line. VAS was rolled out in a way that allowed for robust evaluation of its causal effects and several studies have examined various impacts of the scheme on poor households. In this analysis article, we summarise the key findings and assess how these findings can be used to inform other social health insurance schemes. First, the evidence suggests that VAS led to a substantial reduction in mortality driven by increased tertiary care utilisation as well as use of better quality facilities and earlier diagnosis. Second, VAS significantly reduced the financial burden of receiving tertiary care. Third, these benefits of social health insurance were achieved at a reasonable cost to society and taxpayers. Several unique features of VAS led to its success at improving health and financial well-being including effective outreach via health camps, targeting expensive conditions with high disease burden, easy enrolment process, cashless treatment, bundled payment for hospital services, participation of both public and private hospitals and prior authorisation to improve appropriateness of care.

The impact of cash transfer programs on Brazilian’s well-being

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1106-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izete Pengo Bagolin
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Social Program ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate if there is any evidence of differentials in the well-being achievements of two groups which will be called the “artificially” and the “truly” not poor; and second, to test the hypothesis that income from work is a better entitlement than income received from social programs. Design/methodology/approach The author used data from the 2008 Brazilian Household Budget Survey and selected two groups. Both groups are composed of people living between the absolute and the relative poverty line. The group that is living above the absolute poverty line only due to cash transfer programs will be considered the “artificially” not poor. And people who are out of absolute poverty but not receiving any help from social program are considered the “truly” (and not absolutely) poor. The hypothesis was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results support the hypothesis that people who are not receiving income from cash transfer programs achieve a higher level of well-being in the dimensions of housing and food. Food and housing capabilities affect each other and such result reinforces the multidimensionality of the Brazilian poverty. Research limitations/implications The main limitations refers to the restrict number of dimensions and to the necessity to adapt the indicators available to answer the paper objectives. Practical implications The paper results can help the policy makers to better understand the cash transfer programs attainment and boundaries. Social implications The paper results highlight that the cash transfer programs, even being useful to improve people well-being, are not sufficient to promote human capabilities and are not truly undertaking the multidimensional deprivations of the poor. Originality/value The paper compares two groups of people living with identical amount of income acquired from different origins.

Perception of social reality and subjective well-being in developed countries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Goffe ◽  
G. Monusova
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Social

This book is centered on two issues. Firstly, how do individuals from different countries view various social and economic phenomena, which they often encounter? Secondly, how do their views affect their subjective well-being? The authors of this book use international findings and their research to answer these questions. Analyzing the mechanisms which lead to a discrepancy between objective and subjective assessment of life is crucial for understanding the social, economic and voting behaviour of individuals, as well as searching for ways to preserve political stability.

Social minimum living standard in Russia: estimation methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-203
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Migranova ◽  
Irina Korchagina
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Normal Function ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Per Capita

The minimum living standard of the population in Russia since 1992 is subsistence minimum (SM). It plays a significant social role as a criterion for the assessment of the need of households for social assistance. The methods for SM calculating were periodically changed, but the rate of absolute poverty was always measured by the share of the population with income below SM. The article considers in detail the methods for estimating SM, adopted in 2013 and based on normative-statistical approach. Analysis of the food consumption and the structure of consumer spending of poor households, based on Household Budget Survey 2012-2019, revealed their non-compliance with the SM that was effective up to and including 2020. Since 2021 estimation of poverty is made by statistical methods without calculating minimum consumer basket (Law № 473-ФЗ as of 29.12.2020). The poverty line is determined by the ratio to median income per capita, and the poverty rate is of relative character. Retrospective analysis of the dynamics in the per capita and median incomes of the RF population and the SM per capita for 2013-2020 makes it possible to estimate the difference in the rates of absolute and relative poverty and to understand what guided the developers of the law in determining the SM per capita at 44.2% of the median income and the value of SM for the main sociodemographic groups of the population for the year 2021. In addition, on concrete examples, by means of the logarithmic normal function used by Rosstat for calculation of the population income distribution, it is shown, at what ratio of the median income to the average, the rate of absolute poverty may be reduced by half as compared to 2019

A Convenient Truth?

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-41
Author(s):  
Peter Railton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Sacrifice

Justice would appear to require that those who are the principal beneficiaries of a history of economic and political behavior that has produced dramatic climate change bear a correspondingly large share of the costs of getting it under control. Yet a widespread material ideology of happiness suggests that this would require sacrificing “quality of life” in the most-developed countries—hardly a popular program. However, an empirically-grounded understanding of the nature and function of “subjective well-being”, and of the factors that most influence it, challenges this ideology and suggests instead that well-being in more-developed as well as less-developed societies could be improved consistently with sustainable resource-utilization. If right, this could refocus debates over climate change from the sacrifice of “quality of life” to the enhancement and more equitable distribution of well-being within a framework of sustainable relations with one another and with the rest of nature.

scholarly journals A Longitudinal Study on Multidimensional Resilience to Physical and Psychosocial Stress in Elderly Mexicans

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1450-1463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Höltge ◽  
Rafael Samper-Ternent ◽  
Carmen García-Peña ◽  
Luis Miguel Gutiérrez-Robledo
Keyword(s):  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Net Worth ◽  
Early Predictors ◽  
Ecological Resources ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Latent Class Growth

Objectives: To identify trajectories of depression and daily disability in the context of serious falls and widowhood and to predict those trajectories before the events occurred. Methods: Longitudinal data were used from the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Trajectories were estimated using latent class growth analysis. Internal and socio-ecological resources were analyzed as predictors of the trajectories. Results: Unfavorable (worsening of symptoms and chronic high symptoms) and favorable (improvement of symptoms and stable low symptoms (resistance)) trajectories were identified. Favorable trajectories were more likely for daily disability. Persons who showed resistance in depression also tended to show resistance in daily disability. Net worth, cognition, and subjective well-being were early predictors for most trajectories. Discussion: Besides resistance, individuals rather show different co-occurring trajectories in the studied outcomes. While some factors could be identified that lead to favorable trajectories in both stressful contexts, the study also shows the necessity for context-specific research and praxis.

scholarly journals Internet access and its relationship to subjective well-being in a developing region

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Greyling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
National Level ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Internet Access ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The South ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Developing Region

Internet access has been shown to play an important developmental role and Internet access to all people has become an international goal. This is also true for South Africa where the ‘South Africa Connect’ policy was introduced in 2013. The question arises whether Internet access goes beyond meeting developmental goals to improving the subjective well-being of people. Furthermore, if the association between Internet access and subjective well-being vary between different race and age groups. Previous research was performed in developed countries at a national level or for specific small subsamples, like the elderly; however, this study contributes to the literature by analysing a substantial sample, at sub-national level, in a heterogeneous, unequal society, in a developing country. The benefit is that heterogeneities masked in studies at a national, macro level are highlighted in a study at a sub-national, micro level. This article investigated the relationship between subjective well-being and Internet access within a developing region with a heterogeneous, unequal society. The article used a data set representative of the Gauteng population, the economic centre of South Africa, which was collected in 2013 by the Gauteng City Region Observatory. To analyse the data, ordered probit, ordinary least square and instrumental variable regression techniques were used. The results show that Internet access is positively related to subjective well-being and this relationship holds across all race groups and all age groups, from 18 years to over 65 years of age. In addition, it seems that the stark inequalities between race groups present in South Africa are fading among younger generations. Based on the results, the ‘South Africa Connect’ policy, which aims to give Internet access to all people, including those in Gauteng, the region analysed, is supported, as it not only contributes to the development of the region but also to the life satisfaction of the citizens.

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