A multidimensional approach to measuring economic insecurity: the case of Chile

Joaquin Prieto Suarez

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper proposes a strategy to measure economic insecurity in countries in the Global South. It builds a 'Multidimensional Economic Insecurity Index' (MEII) that combines four indicators of economic vulnerability that cause stress and anxiety: unexpected economic shocks, unprotected employment or non-workers in the household, over-indebtedness and asset poverty. The index offers a measure that directly relates economic uncertainty to stress and anxiety due to the lack of protection and buffers to face an unexpected economic shock. The MEII is applied to Chile using Survey of Household Finances (SHF) cross-sectional data (2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017). The results show that (i) about half of the Chilean households experienced, on average, two or more economic vulnerabilities during the last decade with an intensity of 2.3 vulnerabilities, and (ii) economic insecurity affects households on the entire income distribution, even in the highest income deciles groups. By identifying the groups of households most affected by economic insecurity and its trend in recent years, applying the MEII in countries such as Chile provides relevant information to monitor, evaluate and improve social safety nets besides labour market regulations.

Keywords: economic insecurity; Global South; multidimensional index; survey of households finances; well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2022-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lam
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Published in Social Indicators Research, 1, September, 2022, 163(2), pp. 823 - 855. ISSN: 0303-8300

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