Multidimensional and fuzzy measures of poverty and inequality at national and regional level in Mozambique

Abstract

This study provides a step-by-step account of how fuzzy measures of non-monetary deprivation and also monetary poverty may be constructed based on survey data such as those from the Mozambican Household Budget Survey 2008-09 (IOF08). For nonmonetary deprivation, six dimensions are identified using explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses, and a weighting system is applied for the aggregation of individual items into the dimension they represent. An application on Mozambique is conducted using the Household Budget Survey 2008-09 (IOF08) data: estimates are provided at national level and also disaggregated at provincial and urban/rural level. Standard errors are provided using a recent methodology based on Jack-knife Repeated Replication. Our results contrast with previous findings based solely on Head Count statistics and give a more complete mapping of poverty in Mozambique. Monetary and non-monetary deprivation seem to have very different distribution patterns, especially when analysed at sub-national level and by area of residence. Disaggregated Head Count statistics produce rankings of provinces and urban/rural areas that greatly differ from estimates based on non-monetary dimensions. In particular, the Northern and Central provinces suffer from non-monetary deprivation significantly more than the South, and the urban/rural deprivation gap widens in favour of urban areas when non-monetary dimensions are considered. Housing conditions and quality, and possession of less affordable durable goods emerge as the most unequally distributed non-monetary dimensions.