Author: Branko Milanovic

Publication: Applied Economics Letters. vol. 9, no. 2. pp. 69-72

Date: June 2002

Abstract: 

The standard formulae used to calculate poverty gaps are incorrect when the poverty analysis is conducted in terms of equivalent units (rather than in per capita terms). An exact calculation requires access to individual level data. If this is unavailable, the paper proposes an approximation.

Link: Do We Tend to Overestimate Poverty Gaps? The Impact of Equivalency Scales on the Calculation of the Poverty Gap (PDF)