An analysis of welfare changes in Zimbabwe

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	An analysis of welfare changes in Zimbabwe
Author:	Kwenda, Prudence
Year:	2010
Periodical:	African Development Review (ISSN 1467-8268)
Volume:	22
Issue:	4
Pages:	511-525
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	social welfare poverty education
External link:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8268.2010.00246.x/pdf
Abstract:	This paper presents a brief account of welfare changes in Zimbabwe along the income and education dimensions between 1995 and 2003. Using sequential dominance procedures, the author finds that education attainment substantially improved over time. However, these gains did not necessarily translate into poverty reduction, rather welfare over the joint distribution of income and education dramatically deteriorated. These results are robust for all education partitions, income thresholds and a broad class of welfare indices. A further inquiry into the factors underlying this apparent disconnection between education and income using decomposition techniques reveals that the increase in poverty incidence cannot be attributed to household characteristics but is reflective of the broader socioeconomic trends prevailing at the time. The decline in economic growth contributed tremendously to the decline in welfare while inequality changes account for a small proportion. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]