A Satisfaction-Driven Poverty Indicator: A Bustle around the Poverty Line

Andos Juhasz

No 461, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: Poverty line definitions in use often lack a solid scientific foundation. This paper proposes to exploit data on income satisfaction to construct an evidence-based poverty line. The poverty line is identified by using its assumed unique property to explain income dissatisfaction best among all dichotomizations of income. To this end, several model settings are considered including linear and nonlinear approaches both exploiting panel information. Applying the method to data from the German Socio-Economic Panel yields a temporally stable poverty line similar to the definition provided by the Statistical Office of the European Commission. Using data from the European Community Household Panel, we present further evidence for satisfaction-based poverty lines across Europe and investigate their cross-country differences. The appropriateness of focusing on discrete poverty lines is also investigated.

Keywords: Household income; poverty line; income satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 p.
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp461

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