The evolution of groupwise poverty in Madagascar, 1999-2005

This paper explores whether there exist differences in groupwise poverty in Madagascar; that is, whether there is a pattern over time of consistently poorer performance among sub-populations readily identifiable by one or more identity markers. Three key messages come out of this analysis. First, there exists a core type of household that remained persistently poor over the period 1999-2005. These households were largely not members of the dominant ethnic group, land poor, lived in remote areas, and were headed by uneducated individuals, most commonly women. Second, in addition to establishing the existence of persistent differences in poverty across groups, relative differences in returns to education, land and remoteness underscore the existence of differences within groups, as one characteristic affects the returns to another. Third, persistent differences in groupwise poverty are associated with multiple different identities, some of which are offsetting and some of which are reinforcing. For example, women's higher education tends to offset the disadvantages associated with being a head of household, while remoteness compounds the disadvantages associated with living in female-headed households.

Title	The evolution of groupwise poverty in Madagascar, 1999-2005
Creator	Foster, F.
	Stifel, David C.
	Barrett, C. B.
Publisher	Journal of African Economies
Academic Department	Economics
Division	Social Sciences
Organization	Lafayette College
Date Issued	2010
Date Available	2018-11-13T21:55:13Z
Type	Article
Language	English
Bibliographic Citation	Stifel, D. C., F. Foster, C. B. Barrett (2010) "The evolution of groupwise poverty in Madagascar, 1999-2005." Journal of African Economies 19 (4): 559-604.
Standard Identifier	Handle 10385/2451
Standard Identifier	DOI 10.1093/jae/ejq009
Permalink	http://hdl.handle.net/10385/2451
Rights Statement	In Copyright
Rights Holders	Foster, F.
	Stifel, David C.
	Barrett, C. B.