South African poverty lines: a review and two new money-metric thresholds

Simple item page
dc.creatorBudlender, Joshua
dc.creatorLeibbrandt, Murray
dc.creatorWoolard, Ingrid
dc.date2015-08-27T19:00:00Z
dc.date2015-08-27T19:00:00Z
dc.date2015-08
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-06T10:55:49Z
dc.date.available2017-06-06T10:55:49Z
dc.date.issued2017-06-06
dc.descriptionUnlike some other countries, there is no legislated poverty line for South Africa. Various absolute poverty lines exist, but there has been little analysis of the methodological decisions underpinning each line. There is no consensus as to which line is best. This paper critically reviews existing South African poverty lines and introduces two new money-metric thresholds. These poverty lines are created according to Ravallion’s (1994) Cost of Basic Needs method and use a combination of household survey data, caloric information for various foods, and price data. Our methodology is described in depth, and the implications of unavoidable methodological decisions are discussed. The theoretical foundations of the method are also examined, and it is argued that the lower-bound poverty line is not conceptually coherent and is not appropriate for poverty measurement. The upper-bound and food poverty lines remain worthwhile, however. The implications of these lines for rudimentary estimates of poverty are then examined, using the 2010/2011 Income and Expenditure Survey.
dc.descriptionThe authors acknowledge and appreciate the extensive support received from Statistics South Africa. Without the agency’s support this paper would likely not have been possible, and we therefore view it as somewhat of a collaborative effort. In this regard we are particularly grateful to Sandile Simelane and Marietjie Bennett. We also thank Morne Oosthuizen from the Development Policy Research Unit, who provided invaluable advice regarding the conversion of food expenditures into calories.
dc.identifierBudlender, J., Leibbrandt, M., Woolard, I. (2015). South African poverty lines: a review and two new money-metric thresholds A Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit Working Paper Number 151. Cape Town: SALDRU, University of Cape Town
dc.identifier978-1-928281-12-2
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/784
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper DA - 2017-06-06 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Poverty line KW - Money-metric thresholds KW - Income and Expenditure Survey KW - South Africa LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2017 T1 - South African poverty lines: a review and two new money-metric thresholds TI - South African poverty lines: a review and two new money-metric thresholds UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/784 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/784
dc.languageen
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.relationSALDRU Working Paper;151
dc.subjectPoverty line
dc.subjectMoney-metric thresholds
dc.subjectIncome and Expenditure Survey
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.titleSouth African poverty lines: a review and two new money-metric thresholds
dc.typeWorking Paper
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceWorking Paperen_ZA
Files
Collections
Reports