Growth and Poverty Reduction in Uganda, 1992-1999: A Multidimensional Analysis of Changes in Living Standards

Type Working Paper - Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program Working Paper
Title Growth and Poverty Reduction in Uganda, 1992-1999: A Multidimensional Analysis of Changes in Living Standards
Author(s)
Issue 151
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2003
URL http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2004-GPRaHDiA/papers/4p-Younger-CSAE2004.pdf
Abstract
This paper examines Ugandaís progress on poverty reduction when poverty is measured in
multiple dimensions. In particular, I consider poverty measures that are defined across household
expenditures per capita or household assets, childrenís health status, and in some cases, motherís
literacy. The comparisons are robust to the choice of poverty line, poverty measure, and
sampling error. In general, I find that multidimensional poverty declined significantly in Uganda
during the 1990s, although results for the latter half of the decade are more ambiguous. While
there was clear progress in the dimension of expenditures and assets, improvement in childrenís
height-for-age z-scores is less certain for the 1995-2000 period. I also make poverty comparisons
for individual regions and urban and rural areas in the country. Rather surprisingly, progress on
multivariate poverty reduction is less clear in Central region and in urban areas.

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