Inflation Inequity and the Measurement of Pro-Poor Growth

Konferenzbeitrag

Despite the recent and intense debate on how to define and measure pro-poor growth, there is one important issue which has so far not received sufficient attention: how applications of pro-poor growth measurements can appropriately take into account relative price changes, which, given the heterogeneity of consumption patters across the income distribution, often lead to significant inflation inequality. We show that incorporating inflation inequality into pro-poor growth measurements is not only a methodological necessity but if ignored can seriously bias assessments of the pro-poorness of growth. Using household expenditure surveys, we suggest simple methodologies which are able to redress such biases and appropriately reflect the changes of relative prices and the development of the purchasing power of the poor in pro-poor growth measurements. Empirically, we illustrate our concepts for the case of Burkina Faso using growth incidence curves and poverty change decompositions as pro-poor growth measurements.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 ; No. 17

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
• Subject: Pro-Poor Growth ; Differential Inflation ; Burkina Faso

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Grimm, Michael ; Günther, Isabel
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Verein für Socialpolitik, Ausschuss für Entwicklungsländer
• (where): Hannover
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/19810
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET