Welfare distribution and poverty in Uganda, 1992 to 2000

This study covers a period of far-reaching economic reform policies and programs in Uganda. Measures of inequality and stochastic dominance analysis are applied to a series of regionally representatives national household surveys data to shed light on the patterns of inter-temporal changes in levels and distribution of welfare in Uganda. Stochastic dominance analysis of welfare distribution reveals that Ugandan households were better off in 2000 and 1997 than in 1992 irrespective of the choice of a poverty line. Using a sub-regional panel data set that was constructed on the basis of rural/urban categorization we estimate elasticities of poverty with respect to growth to illustrate that deliberate policies focusing on welfare distribution would significantly enhance the poverty-reducing impact of growth. Using the estimated elasticities we highlighted the scenarios under which Uganda can achieve either the income-poverty Millennium Development Goal or the more ambitious national goal of reducing absolute poverty to less than 10 percent of the population by 2017