Extra questions - Homepage Usask

Answer to 3
Country A
Income 100 200 300 400
(poverty line: 250) People 50 25 75 25
Country B
Income 100 400 600 800
(poverty line: 350) People 50 25 75 25
Poverty. The above table shows income distribution for two countries: the …rst row represents the
various incomes, whereas the second row represents the number of people earning each of these incomes.
Because country B is richer than country A, its (relative) poverty line is higher.
4. (a) Explain the di¤erent measures of poverty: head count ratio (HCR), income gap ratio (IGR) and
poverty gap ratio (PGR).
Let us denote by p the poverty line, y refers to income, the subscript to the individual (i.e., yi is
income of individual i), and m to the average income.
The incidence of poverty or head count ratio, HCR, is de…ned as HCR = HC=n where n denotes
total population and HC the head count, HC: number of people whose income falls below the
poverty line, yi < p.
The poverty gap ratio (depth) is the ratio of the average shortfall to poverty line
P GR =
P
yi