We show under lognormality that, when the Gini coefficient is stable over time, defining the poverty line as a fraction of a central tendency of the living standard distribution restricts the evolution of the poverty measures to be stable. That is, poverty does not change if the Gini coefficient...

We derive a parametric formula of the Watts' poverty index for the bivariate lognormal distribution of price indices and nominal living standards. This enables us to analyze the contributions of price and nominal living standard distributions to poverty, to estimate poverty when only means and...

It is not known to what extent welfare measures result from seasonal and geographical price differences rather than from differences in living standards across households. Using data from Rwanda in 1983, we show that the change in mean living standard indicators caused by local and seasonal...

Spatial price dispersion varies because of climatic fluctuations, marketimperfections, economic growth or economic policies. These variations areoften neglected in poverty studies.In this paper, we propose a simple simulation formula to assess the effecton poverty of a change in the spatial mean...

This paper introduces a new methodology to target direct transfers against poverty. Our method is based on observable correlates and on estimation methods that focus on the poor. Using data from Tunisia, we estimate ‘focused’ transfer schemes that improve anti-poverty targeting performances....

The rise in consumption inequality in response to the increase in income inequality over the last three decades in the U.S. is puzzling to expected-utility-based incomplete market models. The two-sided lack of commitment models exhibit too little consumption inequality while the standard...

We analyze a society that cares about inequality of opportunity. We propose adynamic setting in which effort is a decision variable that individuals adopt as asolution of an explicit utility maximization program. Effort determines themonetary outcome and it depends on the individual¿s...

This paper offers estimates of the underreporting of income by self-employed workers using the Spanishhousehold surveys over the period 2006-2009. We use the well-known model by Pissarides and Weber (1989)but extending its interpretation for admitting also the (lower) concealment of income by...

Many social indicators are based on household consumption information. The valuation of non-monetary operations is crucial for the analysis of consumption surveys in developing countries because of the importance of own-consumption and transfers in kind. What are the price statistics used in the...

This paper investigates the effect of health shocks on household consumption and child nutrition. Using longitudinal data from rural Colombia we find that several items of household consumption, including medical expenditure, food consumption, and total consumption, increase following a recent...