Poverty dynamics for Ghana during 2005/06–2016/17: an investigation using synthetic panels

Hai-Anh Dang (), Dhushyanth Raju, Tomomi Tanaka and Kseniya Abanokova

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

Abstract: Ghana has consistently kept its poverty rate lower than the regional average over the past 25 years, but this positive trend has slowed down recently. Without actual panel data, it would be next to impossible to probe into the dynamic patterns beneath this trend. We offer the first study that examines the dynamics of overall, moderate, and extreme poverty in Ghana during 2005/06–2016/17, addressing the lack of actual panel data by constructing synthetic panel data from three nationally representative cross-sectional rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Surveys (GLSSs). We present a well-defined decomposition framework, which allows us to examine a rich profile of the dynamics among different population groups. Beyond poverty analysis, we further investigate the dynamics of the full consumption expenditure distribution. Although we find considerable conditional chronic (extreme) poverty rates hovering around 50–60%, there was more upward mobility than downward mobility during this period. Poor households were also more likely to have stronger consumption expenditure growth. The findings suggest that factors such as educational attainment, female household headship, urban residence, and nonagricultural work are positively correlated with poverty reduction. Compared to all other correlates, educational attainment appears to be the most effective in pushing households out of poverty and keeping them from falling into poverty. These results contribute to the growing literature on poverty dynamics in developing countries in general and provide new and relevant inputs for policy advice in Ghana in particular, especially since policies that address chronic poverty typically differ from those that tackle transient poverty.

Keywords: extreme poverty; Ghana; poverty dynamics; repeated cross sections; sub-Saharan Africa; synthetic panel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 D31 I31 O10 O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2024-09-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Scientific African, 1, September, 2024, 25. ISSN: 2468-2276

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/124105/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:ehl:lserod:124105

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().