We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa
The creation of national middle classes and the changes in consumption patterns in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries suggest reconsidering the way welfare and consequently inequality is typically measured. Using only consumption to measure welfare can lead to an important loss of information...
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Springer Nature
2020
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33207 |
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okr-10986-332072021-05-25T10:54:39Z We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa Clementi, F. Dabalen, A.L. Molini, V. Schettino, F. GINI COEFFICIENT INEQUALITY DISTRIBUTION MIDDLE CLASS CONSUMPTION INCOME WELFARE The creation of national middle classes and the changes in consumption patterns in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries suggest reconsidering the way welfare and consequently inequality is typically measured. Using only consumption to measure welfare can lead to an important loss of information regarding the real welfare of the top 10–20% of the welfare distribution that is generally referred as “middle class” in these countries. This paper proposes a method capable of correcting the middle-class part of the consumption distribution using information coming from the income distribution of the same surveys. Results from 6 SSA countries indicate an increase of about 20% in the Gini index. 2020-01-21T20:38:55Z 2020-01-21T20:38:55Z 2020-01-11 Journal Article The Journal of Economic Inequality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33207 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Springer Nature Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
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Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
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World Bank |
| topic |
GINI COEFFICIENT INEQUALITY DISTRIBUTION MIDDLE CLASS CONSUMPTION INCOME WELFARE |
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GINI COEFFICIENT INEQUALITY DISTRIBUTION MIDDLE CLASS CONSUMPTION INCOME WELFARE Clementi, F. Dabalen, A.L. Molini, V. Schettino, F. We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
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Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
| description |
The creation of national middle classes and the changes in consumption patterns in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries suggest reconsidering the way welfare and consequently inequality is typically measured. Using only consumption to measure welfare can lead to an important loss of information regarding the real welfare of the top 10–20% of the welfare distribution that is generally referred as “middle class” in these countries. This paper proposes a method capable of correcting the middle-class part of the consumption distribution using information coming from the income distribution of the same surveys. Results from 6 SSA countries indicate an increase of about 20% in the Gini index. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Clementi, F. Dabalen, A.L. Molini, V. Schettino, F. |
| author_facet |
Clementi, F. Dabalen, A.L. Molini, V. Schettino, F. |
| author_sort |
Clementi, F. |
| title |
We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short |
We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full |
We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr |
We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed |
We Forgot the Middle Class! Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort |
we forgot the middle class! inequality underestimation in a changing sub-saharan africa |
| publisher |
Springer Nature |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33207 |
| _version_ |
1764478224935419904 |