Carlos Gradín

Measuring poverty accounting for time

In this paper we make a methodological proposal to measure poverty accounting for time by proposing a new index that aims at reconciling the way poverty is measured in a static and a dynamic framework. Our index is able to consider the duration of the poverty spell and the social preference for equality in well-being given that, in contrast with others that have been previously proposed, it is sensitive to the level of inequality between individual complete poverty experiences over time. Moreover, other indices in the literature can be interpreted as special cases of our more general measure. An empirical illustration shows the relevance of considering the distribution of poverty experiences among the population in an international analysis.

Poverty among minorities in the United States: Explaining the racial poverty gap for Blacks and Latinos

The two largest minorities in the United States, African Americans and people of Hispanic origin, show official poverty rates at least twice as high as those of non-Hispanic Whites. These similarly high poverty rates between the two minorities are, however, the result of different combinations of factors related to the specific characteristics of these two groups. In this article, we analyse the role of demographic and labour-related variables in the current differential of poverty rates among racial and ethnic groups in the United States and its recent evolution. Our results show, first, that these differentials are largely explained by differing family characteristics of the ethnic groups. Furthermore, we show that while labour market activity of family members and a preponderance of single mothers play a more significant role in the higher poverty rates of Blacks, a larger number of dependent children is closely associated with higher poverty among Latinos, who also suffer from a larger educational attainment gap and higher immigration rates.

The Extent of Occupational Segregation in the United States: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

This paper studies occupational segregation by ethnicity/race and gender by following a new approach that facilitates multigroup comparisons and econometric analyses to take into account group characteristics. The analysis shows that segregation is particularly intense in the Hispanic and Asian populations (the situation being more severe for the former given its higher concentration in low�?paid jobs). A distinctive characteristic of Hispanics is that segregation is higher for men than for women although females are more concentrated in low�?paid jobs. Segregation neither for women nor for African and Native Americans is reduced by taking human capital variables into account.

Why is Poverty So High Among Afro-Brazilians? A Decomposition Analysis of the Racial Poverty Gap

Abstract This study aimed to identify the major factors underlying the discrepancy in poverty levels between whites and blacks in Brazil. An Oaxaca–Blinder-type decomposition was performed in order to quantify the extent to which differences in observed characteristics (characteristics effect) account for this difference. The remaining unexplained part (coefficients effect) provides evidence on how these characteristics are differentially associated with the risk of poverty in each group. Our results show that the characteristics effect explains a large part of the discrepancy in poverty levels: education and labour variables explain one-half of the gap, and geographic and sociodemographic variables another two-fifths.

Race and Income Distribution: Evidence from the USA, Brazil and South Africa

The aim of this paper is to provide some empirical evidence about black–white differentials in the distribution of income and wellbeing in three different countries: Brazil, the USA and South Africa. In all cases, people of African descent are in a variety of ways socially disadvantaged compared with the relatively more affluent whites. We investigate the extent of these gaps in comparative perspective, and analyze to what degree they are associated with differences in the observed characteristics of races, such as where they live, the types of household they have, or their performance in the labor market. We undertake this analysis with the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition at the means and with a propensity score approach at the entire distribution. Our results show how the factors underlying the racial divide vary across countries and income quantiles.

What helps households with children in leaving poverty? Evidence from Spain

Recent results on poverty in Europe show that households with children have a higher incidence of poverty than households without children. This incidence is not only higher but increasing. The literature on poverty has noted that the events that are most effective in pushing households out of deprivation should largely determine the design of poverty-alleviating social policy. Using longitudinal data for Spain for the 80’s and 90’s we account for the importance of relevant demographic and labour market events in helping households with and without children in leaving a poverty situation decomposing the relevance of each event in that generated by labour market policies and fertility or marriage institutions and welfare state policies implications. Similarly to results for other countries, the events that most help Spanish households in leaving poverty are related to the labour status and changes in employment of household members more than to demographic events. However, we should note that the transitions out of poverty of households with children are most strongly linked to the economic cycle in the economy mainly through labour market events while non-labour income changes appear as more important in determining a potential transition out of poverty of households without children, implying that their transitions are more linked to the social protection system.

Why are Child Poverty Rates so Persistently High in Spain

Poverty rates among households with children in Spain have been shown to be persistently higher than those among households without children. These higher rates prevail for chronic, transitory and, most remarkably, for recurrent poverty. In order to study the dynamics of poverty transitions in Spain we estimate a dynamic random effects probit model that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions using the European Community Household Panel. Our results show differential effects of several individual and household characteristics on the probability of being poor for households with and without children. Of special interest is how labour instability factors can help to explain the outstandingly higher recurrence in poverty among households with children in Spain, compared with other countries.

Unemployment and spell duration during the Great Recession in the EU

The current economic recession has had unequal consequences on employment depending on the country considered. It is generally accepted that the negative impact of unemployment on individual welfare can be very different depending on its duration. However, conventional statistics on unemployment do not adequately capture to what extent the recession is not only increasing the incidence of unemployment but also its severity in terms of duration in time of ongoing unemployment spells. In this paper, we follow Shorrocks’s (2009a,b) proposal of a duration-sensitive measure of unemployment in order to analyze the different dynamic characteristics of unemployment in a selected group of European Union countries during the current Great Recession. Our results add some evidence on the relevance of incorporating the duration dimension in measuring unemployment and provide a tool for dynamic analysis based on cross-sectional data.

Occupational segregation of Hispanics in US metropolitan areas

This article quantifies the occupational segregation of Hispanics in the largest Hispanic enclaves of the US. Using a procedure based on propensity score, it explores the role played by the characteristics of Hispanics, such as country of origin and English fluency, in explaining the variation of segregation across metropolitan areas. Regarding the characteristics of the metropolitan areas, a regression analysis shows that the segregation of Hispanic workers tends to be higher in relatively smaller and highly educated labour markets, with a lower proportion of Hispanics, a higher growth of recent foreign-born Hispanics and in areas where they face cooler feelings from the rest of the population.

Income Distribution in Uruguay: The Effects of Economic and Institutional Reforms

This paper is concerned with distributive aspects of crucial economic and institutional reforms experienced by earners of several income sources in Uruguay after the late eighties. These reforms involved both the labor market and the pensions system, and we provide empirical evidence about the different way they affected the distribution of income. The distribution of income across all earners at the end of the eighties exhibited two well-distinguished poles, each associated with one income source. This bimodality diminished with time during the nineties due to the general improvement in retirement pensions, and polarization by income sources. In the same period we find in the case of labor earnings a net transfer of population mass from the middle of the distribution to both extremes, which results in increasing polarization within this income source.