Inequality, poverty and mobility: Choosing income or consumption as welfare indicators

Carlos Gradín (), Olga Cantó and Coral del Rio Otero

Investigaciones Economicas, 2008, vol. 32, issue 2, 169-200

Abstract: The economic literature has discussed at large about the best indicator of individual welfare: income or consumption. The implications of this choice are not only a matter for theoretical discussion but turn out to be very relevant for empirical analysis. Up to now, the debate has focused on the effects on distributional statics and avoided discussing or offering evidence of the effects on mobility or poverty dynamics. In this paper we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both resource measurements and analyze the effects of the choice on distributional dynamics by presenting empirical evidence on Spain obtained from a rotating longitudinal survey.

Keywords: income distribution; sensitivity analysis; expenditure; mobility; poverty dynamics; Spain. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 D31 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.fundacionsepi.es/investigacion/revista ... /may2008/v32i2a2.pdf Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: INEQUALITY, POVERTY AND MOBILITY: CHOOSING INCOME OR CONSUMPTION AS WELFARE INDICATORS
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iec:inveco:v:32:y:2008:i:2:p:169-200

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.fundacio ... tas/presentacion.asp

Access Statistics for this article

Investigaciones Economicas is currently edited by Antonio Cabrales and Pedro Mira

More articles in Investigaciones Economicas from Fundación SEPI Investigaciones Economicas Fundación SEPI Quintana, 2 (planta 3) 28008 Madrid Spain.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Isabel Sánchez-Seco ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).