Sen Poverty Index Research Articles

The Role of Zakat in Reducing the Poverty Gap

Poverty is a crucial problem in Indonesia. Poverty rate in Indonesia is high when compared to other countries in Southeast Asia. We need continuous efforts between government and society, one of them is by maximizing the potential of zakat in Indonesia. This paper aims to analyze the utilization of zakat funds on poverty reduction in Indonesia, especially through program Entrepreneurship Assistance in Desa Berdaya Rumah Zakat. There are 2323 samples taken from the monthly report Entrepreneurship Assistance. The method used is a descriptive method with a quantitative approach that aims to explain and analyze comprehensively the role of zakat in poverty alleviation and indicators. Analysis tools used such as headcount index, poverty gap, income gap, sen poverty index dan FGT index is based on three poverty indicators, namely the poverty line, had kifayah and the nisab of zakat. Distribution of zakat has an impact on increasing the income and business scale of the program recipients, with the result that reducing the depth and severity of poverty in Indonesia

A class of generalized Sen poverty indices

Utilizing results from partial poverty orderings, we characterize a class of generalized Sen poverty indices. A generalized Sen poverty index is defined as the weighted area between the line of zero-poverty and the censored generalized Lorenz curve. Unlike the original Sen index, the generalized Sen index can satisfy the key axioms for poverty measurement.

Agricultural Productivity and Poverty Reduction in Nepal

AbstractThis paper provides for the first time a clear quantitative link between agricultural productivity and poverty among rural households in Nepal. Using data from a nationwide Nepal Living Standard Survey 2004, we first estimate household‐specific productivity per worker under both Cobb–Douglas and translog production functions. Second, the paper identifies the determinants of productivity. Third, we explore a theoretical link between productivity and poverty using Sen's poverty index and find empirically that productivity growth substantially helps poverty reduction. Finally, the integrated effects of changes in productivity determinants are found to be stronger than the outcomes of sectoral policies taken in isolation.

Some Properties of Income Gap Ratio and Truncated GINI Coefficient

The income gap ratio and truncated Gini coefficients play an important role in the construction of poverty and affluence indices. In this paper we examine the question of determining the form of the income distributions based on the income gap ratio or truncated Gini coefficient for a given population and answer them in affirmative. We also discuss the behaviour of the Sen poverty index with respect to the head count ratio and the parameters of some selected income distribution models.

On Various Ways of Measuring Unemployment, with Applications to Switzerland

This paper begins with an examination of various ways of measuring unemployment and, borrowing ideas from the poverty measurement literature, proposes four new general unemployment indices. The first of these is parallel to the Sen poverty index; the second, to the Sen index's generalization by Shorrocks; the third, to the FGT poverty index; and the fourth, to the Watts poverty index. The authors then present an empirical illustration based on Swiss data compiled at the state, or canton, level, using the so-called Shapley decomposition to determine the contribution of three components - the traditional unemployment rate, the average unemployment duration, and the inequality in the unemployment durations - to the differences between the values of the four proposed indices, both within a given canton and within Switzerland as a whole. The paper concludes with a discussion of the assumptions made about the maximum unemployment duration for the purposes of the study, and their impact on the results obtained.

Inference for S-Gini Poverty Indices

Kakwani (Econometrica, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 437-446 (1980)) introduced the S-Gini poverty indices as a generalization of Sen's poverty index. I propose a sample estimator for the indices and establish its asymptotic normality under weak conditions. An explicit variance formula is presented. The poverty line is allowed to depend on the income distribution function.

Do we need a separate poverty measurement?

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first is to illustrate that a poverty index can be derived from a decomposition of an appropriate inequality index. The advantage of decomposing an inequality index is that the decomposition supplies additional information that is useful for poverty measurement. The second purpose is to illustrate the kind of policy analysis that can be performed with a decomposed inequality index by decomposing the Gini coefficient into Sen's poverty index and other components. The methodology suggests an answer to the following question: Assume that a tax has been imposed on an expenditure item or an income source, what will be the impact on the components of the inequality index? The analysis is performed with data from Romania.

The Changing Profile of Poverty in Germany after Unification: Cross-Section and Panel Views

We compare poverty among former East and West Germans and foreign guest workers in 1992 and 1996 using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). We find reversals in poverty rankings between former East Germans and foreign guest workers using headcount ratio and a Sen poverty index. With the more comprehensive Sen measure, we find convergence in poverty between the former East and West Germans. A probit analysis uncovers the changing characteristics of the poor over time. A longitudinal analysis of income sources for former East Germans who were poor in 1992 reveals alternative escape routes from poverty.

On Shorrock's Reinvestigation of the Sen Poverty Index

On Shorrock's Reinvestigation of the Sen Poverty Index

Revisiting the Sen Poverty Index

A modification of the official Sen poverty index yields an index which is not only continous in individual incomes and consistent with the transfer axiom, but also admits a geometric interpretation in terms of the area beneath a graph called the inverse generalized Lorenz curve for normalized poverty gaps by Jenkins and Lambert (1993) or the poverty gap profile by Shorrocks (1994).