| Abstract: |
This study attempts to carry out a comprehensive analysis of poverty,
inequality and polarization trends using Cameroon household surveys collected
before and during the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process. The
theoretical decomposition frameworks propelling the study are motivated mainly
by the Shapley value. Empirical estimates are obtained from the software DAD
4.4 using both money-metric and child nutrition indicators, and poverty lines,
with the monetary threshold derived nonparametrically. Effects within-zones
account for much of monetary poverty changes than effects between-zones. The
findings that inter-zone effects contribute to alleviating rural poverty while
aggravating urban poverty, suggests the potential for rural–urban migration to
alleviate rural poverty. Changes in money-metric poverty and health
deprivation sharply contrast each other. While health poverty deteriorated,
income poverty retreated. This is an indication that economic growth may not
necessarily engender significant reduction in all dimensions of well-being.
Changes in health poverty are driven largely by effects of redistribution,
whereas for income poverty the growth component seems to be more important.
Both income and non-income dimensions highlight the dominant role of
within-group components in accounting for inequality trends. However, while
the between-group contributions to inequality are negligible in the health
dimension, they are non-negligible in the income space. In terms of levels,
polarization and inequality are more of an urban than a rural problem, yet
inequality and polarization worsened only in rural areas in the period
1996–2001. As a whole, polarization indices do not give dissimilar trends from
standard measures of inequality. The conflicting results from income and
health well-being indicators are attributable to the observation that the
economic rebound in Cameroon was preceded by fiscal austerity measures
embedded in the Structural Adjustment Programmes that engendered a decline in
the availability of public goods. Moreover, health indicators are slow-moving
compared with income or expenditure, which does not include the quality of
service received from social expenditures on health and nutrition. These
results have implications for policy making: in terms of income deprivation,
emphasis could be on growth-based labour-intensive policies that create
opportunities for the rural poor to increase their incomes; and in terms of
child health and perhaps general health, emphasis could be on redistribution
of health infrastructure and personnel to increase outreach. |