Geographic decomposition of inequality in health and wealth: Evidence from Cambodia

• Main Author: FUJII, Tomoki
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Small-area estimation; Health inequality; Cambodia; Asian Studies; Health Economics; Income Distribution
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2228; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/3227/viewcontent/Fujii_2013_GeographicDecomposition_afv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Applying the small-area estimation methods to Cambodia data, we decompose the total inequality in wealth (consumption) and health (child undernutrition) indicators into within-location and between-location components. Because the knowledge of the pattern of spatial disparity in poverty and undernutrition is important for the geographic targeting of resources, we conduct a geographic decomposition of the variance of the Foster-Greere-Thorbecke index in addition to the standard decomposition exercise based on the generalized entropy measures. We find that a sizable proportion of wealth inequality is due to between-location inequality, whereas health inequality is mainly due to within-location inequality.