A series of national accounts-consistent estimates of poverty and inequality in South Africa
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP09/2007Publication date: 2007
Author(s):
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)
[protected email address] (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)
This paper makes a unique contribution to the South African literature in combining data from an alternative source of household survey data – the All Media and Product Survey (AMPS) – with national accounts income trends for this country, in the recent tradition of research on the world distribution of income performed by Bhalla (2002), Karshenas (2003), Bourguignon and Morrisson (2002), Sala-i-Martin (2002a; 2002b), and Quah (2002), amongst others. Its usefulness lies in arriving at alternative estimates of post-transition poverty and inequality that are consistent with the story that national accounts and other official data collectively tell us about the path of the South African economy during the post-transition period. While the method of scaling survey distribution data by national accounts means is somewhat controversial, it is not clear that the distributional trends obtained using the post-transition sets of either the IESs or the Population Censuses are more reliable, given serious deficiencies in both sources of data. Adjusted distributions yield lower levels of poverty and a stronger decline in poverty during the second half of the period than the figures obtained from the raw AMPS data. While the levels of poverty obtained using adjusted income distributions are artificially low, the derived downward trend is supported by a number of official data sources.
JEL Classification:D6, I32, I38
Keywords:Poverty, Inequality, Income distribution Analysis, South Africa
Download: PDF (441 KB)Login
(for staff & registered students)
Upcoming Seminars
Monday 28 July 202512:00-13:00
Dr Neil Rankin: Ceo Of Predictive Insights & Stellenbosch University
Topic: "TBC"
12:00-13:00
Prof Willem Boshoff
Topic: "Two competing approaches in South African competition policy: merger control and anti-cartel enforcement over the past 30 years"
12:00-13:00
Prof Derek Yu: University Of The Western Cape
Topic: "Examining the teaching, assessment and research activities of the South African Economics Departments"
BER Weekly
6 Jun 2025 SA GDP barely expands in Q1, while BCI and PMI suggest that Q2 remained weakIt was a busy week for local data releases, much of which painted a bleak picture of SA’s economy. Not only was first-quarter GDP growth dismal, but 2024 growth was also revised lower to just 0.5%. , The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI) showed sentiment remained shaky in the second quarter...
Read the full issue
Upcoming Seminars
Monday 28 July 202512:00-13:00
Dr Neil Rankin: Ceo Of Predictive Insights & Stellenbosch University
Topic: "TBC"
12:00-13:00
Prof Willem Boshoff
Topic: "Two competing approaches in South African competition policy: merger control and anti-cartel enforcement over the past 30 years"
12:00-13:00
Prof Derek Yu: University Of The Western Cape
Topic: "Examining the teaching, assessment and research activities of the South African Economics Departments"
BER Weekly
6 Jun 2025 SA GDP barely expands in Q1, while BCI and PMI suggest that Q2 remained weakIt was a busy week for local data releases, much of which painted a bleak picture of SA’s economy. Not only was first-quarter GDP growth dismal, but 2024 growth was also revised lower to just 0.5%. , The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI) showed sentiment remained shaky in the second quarter...
Read the full issue