Suchergebnisse

The conventional approach of economists to the measurement of poverty is to use measures of income or consumption. This has been challenged by those who favour broader criteria, such as fulfillment of 'basic needs' and the 'capabilities' to be and to do things of intrinsic worth. This paper asks: to what extent are these different concepts measurable, to what extent are they competing or complementary, and is it possible for them to be accommodated within an encompassing framework? We conclude that it is possible to view subjective well-being as an encompassing concept, which permits us to quantify the relevance and importance of the other approaches and of their component variables. Any attempt to define poverty involves a value judgment as to what constitutes a good quality of life or a bad one. We argue that an approach which examines the individual's own perception of well-being is less imperfect, or more quantifiable, or both, as a guide to forming that value judgement than are the other potential approaches. The argument is illustrated using a South African household survey. Adapted from the source document.

Using democracy in empirical work requires accurate measurement. Yet, most policy and academic research presupposes the accuracy of available measures. This article explores judge-specific measurement errors in cross-national indicators of liberal democracy. The authors evaluate the magnitude of these errors in widely used measures of democracy and determine whether their results replicate during a 17-year period (1972 to 1988). Then, they examine the nature of these systematic errors, hypothesizing that three different processes—(a) the information available for rating, (b) the judges' processing of this information, and (c) the method by which a judge's processing decisions are translated into a rating—could create error. The authors find that for the 17-year period from 1972 to 1988, there is unambiguous evidence of judge-specific measurement errors, which are related to traits of the countries. In the conclusion, the authors discuss the implications for democracy research and for other subjective measures.

At least since the late 1970s, the performance measurement literature has used different terminologies to describe agency- and citizen-generated performance measures. The first type of measures are placed into objective and the second type into subjective categories. This article argues that this terminology is outdated owing to evidence on the contextual subjectivity of all performance measures. The analysis also examines the potential impact of the dichotomization on the role accorded citizens in helping to develop public sector performance measures.

On the basis of estimating three poverty profiles calculated on sample surveys data, the article presents the methods for obtaining an integrated poverty measure, which solves the model of latent structural analysis with binary classes. In such surveys as Parents and Children, Men and Women in Family, HSE Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, Russian Household Budget Survey, there are questions characterizing different profiles of poverty — economic, deprivation and subjective. The last-mentioned profile presents a subjective perception of one's position on the scale of living standards. Estimates by the three profiles measure different sides of poverty, but it is not clear how they are harmonized, and whether latent poverty is statistically reflected in them. The model of the latent structural analysis may give a positive or negative answer to this question. In case of the positive answer it is proposed to take the probability of latent poverty as an integrated poverty measure. The article provides the results of calculations for three groups of households: those of pensioners, of able-bodied persons, and mixed households consisting of pensioners and the able-bodied. On the data from the largest Rosstat survey — Statistical Survey of Income and Participation in Social Programs (VNDN) were made estimates of latent poverty for urban and rural population of Russia, for households with different number of children. It shows that latent poverty and coherence of different population groups are not contrary to the meaningful views on the phenomenon. It is found out that the understated size of the subsistence minimum (absolute poverty line) leads to lack of coherence between three estimates for households of pensioners. In this case, feeling of poverty and deprivation levels are not in line with the economic estimation of poverty.

The article reviews the current theory and measurement of subjective wellbeing (SWB). The first two sections discuss growing efforts in many countries to measure and monitor national wellbeing, particularly in the United Kingdom. The third and fourth sections discuss the novelty and controversies about SWB research. It concludes that a critical approach is essential in evaluating SWB research but dismissing it offhand or framing it as antithetical to objective wellbeing is misconceived. The pressing issue for poverty research and public policy is to determine which insights about SWB are worth using, and how much space within conceptions of wellbeing used in public policy should be given to SWB.

Diese Dissertation enthält vier Essays über die Messung und Determinanten von Armut, Gender Gap, Ernährungsunsicherheit und Unterernährung in Pakistan. Alle Arbeiten verwenden aktuelle Methoden und Ansätze der einschlägigen Literatur und erweitern teilweise die angewandte Literatur. Eine Executive-Einführung motiviert die Papiere, Methoden, Daten und fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse zusammen. Das erste Papier vergleicht die objektive Einkommensarmut mit einer subjektiven Messung, bei der sich der Haushalt auf einer zehnstufigen Einkommensskala befindet. Sie stellt fest, dass einige Determinanten, einschließlich Haushaltsgröße und physische Sicherheit, unterschiedlich sind. Daher sollten spezifische zielgerichtete Determinanten Vorrang erhalten, die angesichts der begrenzten verfügbaren Ressourcen bei der Linderung der Armut eine größere Rolle spielen und gleichzeitig die öffentliche Politik umsetzen. Der zweite Aufsatz analysiert die geschlechtsspezifische Diskrepanz zwischen den Haushalten in der subjektiven Skala des Wohlbefindens. Sie stellt fest, dass der Konsum von Nahrungsunsicherheit und Mangel an sanitären Einrichtungen einen größeren Einfluss auf das Wohlbefinden von Frauen als von Männern hat, während das Gegenteil für die physische Sicherheit der Fall ist. Daher ist der geschlechtsspezifische Unterschied im subjektiven Wohlbefinden mit geschlechtsspezifischem Zugang zu zielrelevanten Ressourcen verbunden. Die Studie kommt zu dem Schluss, dass es nicht sicher ist, das Wohlbefinden nur aus einer Dimension zu beurteilen. Der dritte Aufsatz analysiert die Determinanten eines neunstufigen Nahrungsmittelunsicherheitsindex unter Verwendung der Skala für Ernährungsunsicherheit, die quantitative, qualitative, psychologische und soziale Aspekte der Ernährungssicherheit beinhaltet. Es wird festgestellt, dass eine breite Palette von demografischen, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Determinanten die Ernährungsunsicherheit in Pakistan beeinflusst. Der letzte Aufsatz verwendet ein Multi-Level-Modell, um Determinanten der Wachstumsverzögerung in der Kindheit in der Provinz Punjab zu untersuchen. Es stellt fest, dass die Heterogenität auf Haushaltsebene die größten Ursachen für Wachstumsstörungen sind, selbst nach Kontrolle der Kovariaten. Dies zeigt, dass es eine akute Einkommensungleichheit, Zugang zu Gesundheitseinrichtungen, Ernährungsunsicherheit und Chancenmangel auf Haushaltsebene gibt. Zusammengefasst besteht diese Dissertation aus vier inhaltlichen quantitativen Übungen, die jeweils einen Beitrag zur angewandten Literatur leisten. ; This dissertation includes four essays on the measurement and determinants of poverty, gender gap, food insecurity and malnutrition in Pakistan. All papers use current methods and approaches of the relevant literature and some extend the applied literature. An executive introduction nicely motivates the papers, methods, data, and summarize the main results. The first paper compares objective income poverty to a subjective measure where household placed themselves on a ten-step income scale. It finds that some determinants, including household size and physical security differ. Thus, priority should be given to specific targeted determinants, which are more important in the alleviation of poverty, while making and implementing public policy given the limited available resources. The second essay analyzes the intra-household gender gap in the subjective 10 scale well-being measure. It finds that consumption food insecurity, and lack of sanitation has a larger impact of female than male stated well-being while the reverse is the case for physical security. Hence, gender difference in subjective well-being is associated with gender specific access to goal relevant resources. The study concludes that it is not safe to gauge well-being from one dimension only. The third essay analyzes determinants of a nine-scale food insecurity index using food insecurity experience scale, incorporating quantitative, qualitative, psychological, and social dimension of food security. It finds that a broad range of demographic, economic and social determinants affect food insecurity in Pakistan. The last essay uses a multi-level model to study determinants of childhood stunting in Punjab province. It finds that heterogeneity at the household level is the largest drivers of stunting, even after controlling for covariates. This reveals that there exist an acute income inequality, access to health care facility, food insecurity, and opportunities deprivation at household level. In a nutshell, this dissertation consists of four substantive quantitative exercises that each makes a contribution to the applied literature.