Estimating poverty persistence in Britain

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

June 1, 2011

Abstract:

This article uses longitudinal data from the BHPS (1991-2006) to document low-income dynamics and persistence for individuals living in Britain. Poverty exit and re-entry rates are estimated, and the resulting distribution of time spent in poverty is calculated, both in single and in multiple-spell frameworks. Poverty persistence predictions are also produced for various subgroups of the populations. In order to do so, I estimate a multiple-spell model of transitions in and out of poverty, controlling for observed and correlated unobserved individual heterogeneity and for a potential initial condition problem. Components-of-variance models are also used to predict the number of years in poverty for the targeted groups. The two alternative modeling approaches are shown to produce a consistent picture of poverty persistence.

Published in

Empirical Economics

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 40 , p.657 -686

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00181-010-0350-2

Subjects

Notes

Online in A/S except current year

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

#513464

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest