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.

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.

Anti-Poverty Effectiveness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Gao
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
General Population ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Minimal Effect ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Poverty Lines ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Chapter 5 investigates Dibao’s anti-poverty effectiveness. The chapter shows that, based on various poverty lines and across urban and rural areas, Dibao’s anti-poverty effectiveness is limited and at best modest, largely due to its targeting errors and gaps in benefit delivery. Dibao is more effective in reducing the depth and severity of poverty than it is the rate of poverty, and its anti-poverty effectiveness is greater among recipients than in the general population. Dibao’s influence on reducing poverty is larger when a lower poverty line is used and smaller when a higher poverty line is used. Because relative poverty lines are often set relative to the median income in society and tend to be much higher than the more widely used absolute poverty lines, Dibao’s effects on reducing relative poverty are particularly limited. Dibao has had minimal effect on narrowing the income inequality gap in society.

scholarly journals New Patterns in China’s Rural Poverty

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-240
Author(s):  
Shi Li ◽  
Peng Zhan ◽  
Yangyang Shen
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Household Expenditures ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Chip Data ◽  
Positive Effects

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the structure of rural poverty in China. On the basis of CHIP data for 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007, and 2013, the authors analyze poverty trends and the structure of poverty, comparing the recent period to earlier periods. Factors that raise household income, factors that reduce the need for household expenditures, and other factors related to China’s poverty alleviation goals are considered. The analysis finds that although the absolute poverty rate continued to decline, the poverty gap and relative poverty increased after 2007. An analysis of the reasons for poverty reveals some positive effects of the rural social welfare policies; however, health problems among the elderly, among children below the age of 15, and among disabled adults continued to be a key source of poverty.

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

scholarly journals Poverty Trends and Growth Performance: Some Issues in Bangladesh

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (4II) ◽  
pp. 1171-1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa K Mujery
Keyword(s):  
Growth Performance ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Income Poverty ◽  
Per Capita Income ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Poverty Threshold ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
Per Capita

With a low level of per capita income, nearly one of every two persons in Bangladesh is poor, and one of three lives below the income poverty line of $ 1 a day.1 If those who are deprived of adequate clothing or shelter or other basic needs are counted, the number will be considerably higher. Similarly, if the people who live ‘above’ the poverty line but are vulnerable to risks, crisis and socioecononomic shocks and are in constant danger of income erosion below the poverty threshold are considered, the number will be still larger. The poor in Bangladesh differ in economic, social, physical and other characteristics which reflect various deprivations. Such multidimensionality of the poor’s interlocking deprivations suggests that a strategy of increasing income alone may not be adequate for reducing poverty.2 With multi-dimensional characteristics, poverty requires a multi-strategy solution in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Minimum subsistence level in the social policy of the poor countries of Europe: the case of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 182 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Еlla Libanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Subsistence Level ◽  
Food Component ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

The category of «minimum subsistence level» (SL), also referred to as «absolute poverty line», is one of the fundamental in the socio-economic policy of the modern country. The majority of social transfers depends on the size of the minimum subsistence level, i.e., the level of state support for vulnerable groups of the population; SL is the basis for setting a number of salaries in the budgetary sphere and, accordingly, the amount of tax revenues; the practice is common of reconciling the size of the minimum wage and the maximum level of income from which contributions to compulsory state social insurance are paid with SL. Thus, the SL forms a significant part of budget expenditures and at the same time revenues in the public finance system. The article presents the results of systematization of the principles and methods of calculating SL adopted in different countries. In particular, the characteristics of normative, structural and normative, statistical, resource-based and subjective approaches are given. Considering the well-founded claims to the current methodology for determining SL in Ukraine, the urgent need for its transformation is emphasized and the author’s vision of innovations is highlighted. The rationale is provided for introducing a structural and normative approach for the analysis, monitoring and forecasting of social development and welfare, differentiated by age groups, determined in accordance with participation in education and the labour market. The necessity is emphasized of: developing the norms of food consumption exclusively by medical specialists; using different SL structures; transition to the calculations of SL of the households with a separate definition of the so-called semi-fixed costs (at the level of 20-30% of the food component of a person aged 20-64), which eliminates the use of disputable scales of equivalence. For the purpose of social assistance and calculation of its amount, it is proposed to focus on 40% of the median official salary. The argument is that payouts from the budget depend on the revenues, i.e., taxes on legal wages, and, moreover, this is the threshold accepted in many European countries. The article provides examples of SL calculations, in particular, with the definition of the impact of various methodological schemes on the level and depth of poverty in the country, on the structure of the poor.As the final result the proposals are given for the use of SL in public policy.

scholarly journals Inequality, poverty and living conditions in Greece: Recent developments and prospects

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Mitrakos
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Significant Deterioration ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Eu

<p>This paper presents the recent trends and<br />the characteristics of inequality, poverty and<br />living conditions in Greece, emphasising on<br />the distributional effects of the austerity<br />measures adopted during the current<br />economic crisis. Moreover, the decomposition<br />analysis of the study examines the structure<br />of inequality and the contribution of various<br />income sources in overall inequality, while<br />the main characteristics of the Greek social<br />solidarity system and the poor distributional<br />impact of social benefits are also discussed. For<br />this purpose, the household income from the<br />Greek Household Budget and the EU Statistics<br />of Income and Living Conditions surveys are<br />used. The available data indicate that income<br />inequality and relative poverty increased,<br />yet not dramatically, during the current<br />crisis, although the composition of the poor<br />population changed considerably. However,<br />the sharp decline in disposable income and<br />the dramatic increase in unemployment led<br />to a significant deterioration in economic<br />prosperity and absolute poverty, i.e. when<br />the poverty line in real terms remains stable<br />in the pro-crisis levels.</p>

scholarly journals Poverty in Karachi: Incidence, Location, Characteristics, and Upward Mobility

1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-178
Author(s):  
Mir Anjum Altaf ◽  
Aly Ercelawn ◽  
Kaiser Bengali ◽  
Abdul Raidm
Keyword(s):  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Tentative Evidence ◽  
Residential Movement

The paper examines the incidence and spatial distribution of poverty in Karachi, Pakistan. Based on a survey of 6000 households, it locates the clusters of poverty and presents a profile of the poor in the city. Just over one-third of the households in Karachi can be classified as poor, based on an absolute poverty line derived from standard consumption norms. Poverty is concentrated in six geographical clusters, which account for 60 percent of the sample households but 90 percent of the very poor households. Analysis of residential movement is used to derive some indirect evidence of socioeconomic mobility. This suggests that, historically, the incidence of upward mobility amongst the poor in Karachi, based partly on the acquisition of skills and education, has been quite high. Poverty in Karachi has not been endemic as a continuous influx of migrants at the bottom replaced those who moved up the economic ladder. The little evidence of downward mobility also identifies it as a more recent occurrence as compared to upward mobility. Data on education show that generational inequalities in educational attainments across different groups among the poor are not being perpetuated over time. At the same time, an analysis of investment in the education of children suggests some very tentative evidence of a possible loss of faith in education as a mechanism for upward mobility. Such indicative evidence is of considerable value given the absence of panel data for most cities in developing countries.

scholarly journals The Study on Poverty Reduction Effects of Chinese Urban Minimum Living Standard Guarantee System—Empirical Analysis Based on CHIP 2002 and 2007

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Chen Zongsheng ◽  
Wen Wen
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Guarantee System ◽  
Poverty Lines

The Chinese urban minimum living-standard guarantee system, mainly functions to guarantee the poor people to have minimum living-standard life; at same time it can make some people to get rid of poverty by some poverty lines. But how much of the rates can be reduced? What differences among provinces, and what impact on all kind of families? The paper tries to answer these questions by using Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) 2002 and 2007, taking international poverty line, minimum living standard line, Martin’s poverty line and relative poverty line respectively to measure the poverty reduction impact of urban minimum living standard guarantee. On the whole, the urban minimum living standard guarantee is effective to alleviate absolute poverty and even part of relative poverty. For example, taking international poverty line as standard, in 2002 the urban minimum living guarantee respectively decreased absolute poverty rate, poverty gap and squared poverty gap of national urban area by 4.58%, 11.41% and 16.32%, while in 2007 decreased respectively by 47.24%, 70.87% and 83.04%. Taking relative poverty line as standard, in 2002 respectively poverty rate, poverty gap and squared poverty gap of national urban area decreased by 1.92%, 4.65% and 8.37%, while in 2007 the 3 indices reached by 3.28%, 11.63% and 22.57% respectively, but which are lower than by international poverty line. On the whole, according to different poverty lines and indices, the urban citizen in different provinces and families gained different poverty reduction effects brought by the urban minimum living standard guarantee.

scholarly journals One Method to Improve the Official Poverty Line in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Carunia Mulya Firdausy
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Subjective Poverty ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Government ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Depth Interviews

Poverty is one of the long standing problems in Indonesia. Using the national absolute poverty line, itwas estimated that the proportion of the poor has declined from 40.1% in 1976 to 10.5% in 2014. However,many people claim that the above percentage of the poor is only true in terms of statistics. The poor argue thatthe amount of rupiah expenditure set as the ofcial poverty line is inadequate to fulfl their basic needs. Thispaper, based on a feld survey of 360 respondents of the poor and the non-poor in three villages in three different provinces located in the Eastern, Western and Central parts of Indonesia, aims at examining a methodto improve the national poverty line and to determine the minimum rupiah expenditure of the poverty lineusing a subjective approach. The method used to examine this research question is by - using questionnaires,Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and in depth interviews. Sample respondents were asked their perceptions onvariables, dimensions and indicators that should be accommodated in formulating the subjective poverty line.They were also questioned about the minimum rupiah expenditure threshold to defne the subjective povertyline. The study found that the ofcial poverty line that has been determined by the government was far belowthe subjective poverty line that was defned by the respondents. Also, the variables, dimension and indicatorsthat should be accommodated in the national poverty line should not only be food items, but also access toemployment, housing, health and education for children. The minimum rupiah expenditure of the povertyline was argued to be more than Rp 500 000 equal to US$40 per capita per month. This minimum rupiahexpenditure of the subjective poverty line is almost double that of the ofcial poverty line set at the average ofRp 300 000 or US$24 per capita per month. Therefore, the government not only needs to revise the presentpoverty line, but also needs to revise policies and programs to eliminate poverty by taking into account thedimension and variables of poverty viewed by the poor and the non-poor. If not, the incidence of poverty willremain with us.

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