Should Poverty Measurement Discount Expenditure on Pan, Tobacco and Alcohol? The Indian case

Motkuri, Venkatanarayana and Mishra, Uday Shankar (2005): Should Poverty Measurement Discount Expenditure on Pan, Tobacco and Alcohol? The Indian case.

Abstract

Poverty in Indian context has always generated contests and controversies regarding its concepts, measurement, levels and implications on several aspects of human welfare. This paper cautions on the validity of poverty assessment indicated by reported expenditure per capita at household level given the fact that this expenditure is an aggregate inclusive of expenditure on evil commodities. On this premise, the population share in Monthly Per Capita Expenditure classes is being verified, inclusive and exclusive of this component of expenditure on evil commodities to comment on welfare implications of the existing approach of poverty assessment.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Asia, India, Poverty, Social Bads
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I30 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

References

A.I.I.M.S. and Ministry of Social Welfare (1978), “Prevalence and Pattern of Alcohol Abuse Among Rural Community and its Correlation with Adverse Psychosocial Squeal”, Government of India.

Babor T et al (2003) Alcohol No Ordinary Commodity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cercone, J A (1994), “Alcohol-Related Problems as an Obstacle to the Development of Human Capital: Issues and Policy Options”, World Bank Technical Paper Number 219.

Deaton and Dreze (2001) Poverty in India Reexamined, Economic and Political Weekly.

Joshi, P D (1997) “Conceptualisation, Measurement And Dimensional Aspects Of Poverty In India” A Paper presented at Seminar on Poverty Statistics, Santiago, 7-9 May, 1997.

Kumara, B R and Salaam, N (1997), “The Women Rouse: An Overview of Anti-Liquor Movement and Aftermath”, Andhra University.

Mahal, A (2000) “What works in alcohol policy? Evidence from rural India.” Economic and Political Weekly, November 12: pp.3959-68, 2000.

Mehta and Venkatraman (2000) “Poverty Statistics: Bermicide’s Feast?” Economic and Political Weekly, 35, July 1.

Palmer-Jones, Richard and Sen, Kunal (2001) “On India’s Poverty Puzzles and the Statistics of Poverty”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.

Pathak, S (1985), “Intoxication as a Social Evil: Anti-Alcohol Movement in Uttarakhand”, Economic and Political Weekly, 20 (32), 1360-1365.

Rahman, Lupin (2002) “Alcohol Prohibition and Addictive Consumption in India”, Department of Economics London School of Economics, WC2A 2AE, October 2002.

Reddy, D N and Patnaik, A (1993) “Anti-Arrack Agitation of Women in Andhra Pradesh”, Economic and Political Weekly, May 22, 1059-1066.

Rehm, J (2003) “Alcohol and the burden of disease – epidemiology and policy implications.” Keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Ontario Public Health Association, Windsor, Ontario, November 3, 2003.