Discussion paper Poverty and Income Inequality

DP11719 Intra-Household Inequality and Overall Inequality

Assessing the specific contribution of intra-household inequality to standard measures of overall inequality and poverty is an underdeveloped area of research and policy analysis. However, intra-household inequality is clearly important. It is argued in this paper that neglecting intra-household inequality could lead to (i) an understatement of inequality and an overstatement of the impact of growth on poverty reduction; (ii) a mis-statement of the potential impact of minimum wage policies on poverty; (iii) mis-design of transfer policies to reduce inequality and poverty. Any discussion of inequality in the welfare state cannot afford to ignore intra-household inequality.

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Citation

Kanbur, R (2016), ‘DP11719 Intra-Household Inequality and Overall Inequality‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 11719. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp11719