Estimating Consumption Deprivation in India Using Survey Data: A State-Level Rural–Urban Analysis Before and During Reform Period

Abstract

This paper assesses deprivation in India employing a measure proposed by Sitaramam and using consumption data at the household level. As cereals constitute a staple food and form a major portion of expenditure on food, the deprivation measure considered here is deprivation in cereal consumption. The total expenditure at which the Engel curve for cereals turns from concave to convex is taken as the cutoff to determine the deprived households. It is shown that cereal deprivation at the all-India level exhibits a declining trend over the period 1987-88 and 1999-2000, in the rural sector, while there is little change in the urban sector. Further, this decline in cereal deprivation seems to have been slowing down during the reform period. The estimates of deprivation are poorly correlated with the HCI and PGI at state level, both in rural and urban sectors. They, however, have better temporal correlations with those poverty measures. We offer some explanation for these observed differences in alternate deprivation indices. The trends in cereal deprivation are accompanied in some cases by a decline, in real terms, in maximum cereal consumption of each group of consumers. Whether this is an improvement or otherwise of the living standards of the poor, must await further analysis of per capita food consumption in general, with an analysis of prices and quantities of various food items. It is hoped that this kind of study on deprivation of essential commodities may increase our understanding of poverty, and even suggest direct intervention strategies.

Measuring incidence of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure: with application to India

“…We derive required income 11 based on measures used in literature on poverty and deprivation. Sitaramam et al (1996), Kumar et al (2008Kumar et al ( , 2009) measure poverty using cereal consumption deprivation. The argument behind this approach is that Engel curve for necessities is concave in nature and the point where it saturates can be taken as deprivation point.…”

“…The paper categorises health expenditure as catastrophic if total consumption expenditure remaining after health expenditure is not enough to protect consumption of necessities. The required level of total consumption is obtained based on estimation of the Engel curves for necessities following Sitaramam et al (1996) and Kumar et al (2009). 8 • We examine the determinants of catastrophic OOP health expenditure for Indian households.…”

“…10 This definition of necessity is wel-documented in economic literature. Moreover, it is used in poverty literature bySitaramam et al (1996),Kumar et al (2008), andKumar et al (2009) to measure the deprivation index.11 We use total consumption expenditure as a proxy for household income as information on income is not available. 12 Separate Engel curves for necessities are estimated for different localities.…”

Analysing Catastrophic Oop Health Expenditure in India: Concepts, Determinants and Policy Implications

“…7 As pointed out by Kumar et al (2008), and Kumar et al (2009), Engel curve for necessities is concave upto a point and afterwards it becomes convex. They truncate the sample to concentrate on concave portion using cubic specification of Engel curve.…”

“…Sitaramam et al (1996), Kumar et al (2008) and Kumar et al (2009) measure poverty using cereal consumption deprivation. The argument behind this approach is that Engel curve for necessities is concave in nature and the point where it saturates can be taken as deprivation point.…”