Inequality, Poverty and the Intra-Household Allocation of Consumption in Senegal
Intra-household inequalities have long been a source of concern for policy design, but there is very little evidence. The current practice of ignoring inequality within households could lead to an underestimation of both overall inequality and pove...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/829111579787974328/Inequality-Poverty-and-the-Intra-Household-Allocation-of-Consumption-in-Senegal http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33235 |
| Summary: | Intra-household inequalities have long
been a source of concern for policy design, but there is
very little evidence. The current practice of ignoring
inequality within households could lead to an
underestimation of both overall inequality and poverty
levels, as well as to the misclassification of some
individuals as regards to their poverty status. Using a
novel survey for Senegal in which consumption data were
collected at a disaggregated level, this paper quantifies
these various effects. In total, two opposing effects, one
on mean and one on inequality, compensate each other in
terms of the overall poverty rate, but individual poverty
statuses are affected. Intra-household consumption
inequalities accounts for 14 percent of inequality in
Senegal. The authors uncover the fact that household
structure and organization are key correlates of
intra-household inequality and individual risk of poverty. |
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