Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region

Gianni Betti (), Federico Crescenzi, Hai-Anh Dang (), Vasco Molini () and Lorenzo Mori
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Gianni Betti: University of Siena
Federico Crescenzi: Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)
Lorenzo Mori: University of Bologna

No 18286, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Measuring inequality in West Africa is a challenging task that is constrained by the limited availability and irregular collection of household consumption data. To address this challenge, we reconstructed the evolution of inequality in the Sahel region using an innovative framework that combines Survey-to-Survey Imputation Techniques (SSITs) with Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS), based on labour force surveys conducted in eight countries between 2003 and 2021. The findings highlight pronounced regional disparities, persistent levels of inequality, and a clear association between inequality patterns and episodes of conflict or political instability. Our contribution is twofold: methodologically, we introduce a flexible SSIT-GAMLSS model that incorporates two levels of random effects; substantively, we provide new evidence of inequality trends in francophone West Africa, a region largely underrepresented in empirical research.

Keywords: labour force surveys; imputation; inequality; West Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 I32 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
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Working Paper: Reconstructing Two Decades of Inequality in the Sahel Region (2025)
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