Poverty Reducing Directions Of Reforms: An Application Of Concentration Curves To Consumption Subsidies In Belarus

Type Conference Paper - The Fifth International Conference On “Public Sector Transition”
Title Poverty Reducing Directions Of Reforms: An Application Of Concentration Curves To Consumption Subsidies In Belarus
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2002
City St. Petersburg
Country/State Russia
URL http://www.aspe.spb.ru/Papers/24_9.pdf
Abstract
In applied works poverty reducing strategies are often analysed by calculating poverty indices before and after the simulated policy. Recent developments by Yitzhaki and Thirsk (1990) and Yitzhaki and Slemrod (1991), drawing on the theory of stochastic dominance, have identified the correspondence between non-intersecting concentration curves and welfare improving and poverty reducing changes, respectively. Consumption dominance conditions have recently been derived by Makdissi and Wodon (2000) for any order of restricted stochastic dominance. None of these papers, however, considers poverty by subgroups. In this paper, we consider the opportunity of gaining information on poverty reduction strategies from commodity concentration curves by subgroups of population when consumption subsidies are changed. Conditions are derived for the FGT class of poverty indices. Results are based on the 1997 Household Survey from Belarus, considering subsidies on rents and utilities, health care and public transport in six groups of population: workers with children; married couples; singles; single parents; pensioners with children; other households with children.

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