Assignment 1
IDEC 8022 Economic Development
Submit your answer by 23 Aug 2024
1. The data “hs1rt.dta” contains information on a sample of households in country X in year t, where:
provid = provincial ID
distid = district ID
hhid = household ID
nrt = household size (# of persons)
expr = total household monthly expenditure
wert = household sample weight
Also, note that file “povlpro1.dta” contains information about poverty line for each province in country X in year t, where:
povl = provincial poverty line (i.e., individuals with monthly expenditures below this line are considered poor)
(Do not use Stata command related to poverty. Use information on household weight for the following exercises.)
a. Calculate monthly expenditure per capita in each province.
b. Calculate P0 (head count poverty ratio/index), P1 (poverty gap index) and P2 (poverty severity index) at provincial level in country X at time t as well as the national level indexes.
c. Please calculate the average monthly expenditure per capita of the
poorest one-fifth of the population in each province and define a relatively poor person as someone with a monthly expenditure below this average expenditure per capita. Calculate the proportion of the population at the provincial level that is considered relatively poor (R0) as well as the proportion at the national level.
d. At each province, compare P0 and R0. Which one is larger, and why it is so? List the province which P0 is larger than R0.
Note: Please attach your do-file along with your answer sheet (as one pdf file) when you submit.
2. The file “mig1_rev.dta” contains information on a sample of individuals in 4 cities in a certain year, where:
citid = city ID
hhid = household ID
indid = individual ID
nrt = household size (# of persons)
age = individual’sage
hgt = individual body’s height
wgt = individual body’s weight
lung = individual body’slung capacity
mig = migrant status (1=migrant & 0=non migrant)
The data “hlt.dta” contain a sample of individuals in the entire country, with the following variables:
hgt = height of an individual
wgt = body weight of an individual
age = age of an individual
wert = household sample weight
a. Using the data from “hlt.dta”, calculate the height for individuals aged 5
and below, specifically at 2 standard deviations (s.d.) below the mean of the height distribution, and present the results for each age. Additionally, calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) for the same age group at 2 s.d. below the mean of the BMI distribution and show the results for each age
b. Using the data from “mig1.dta”, calculate the number of stunted children at the age of 5 and below (i.e., =< 5) in each city. Use the threshold of 2 s.d. on the lower tail of height distribution by age as calculated in part a (; i.e., stunting is defined as children with a height below the threshold of 2 s.d. on the lower tail by age as calculated using the “hlt.dta” dataset).
c. Calculate the number of undernourished children at the age of 5 and
below (=< 5) in each city (by definition, undernourished children are those with a BMI below 2 s.d. on the lower tail of BMI distribution for the age group of 5 and below (=< 5) as calculated using the “hlt.dta” dataset).
d. For each city, could you check whether stunting is strongly correlated
with undernourished. If so, would you think that stunting is similarthan undernourished. Explain your arguments.
Note: Please attach your do-file along with your answer sheet (as one pdf file) when you submit.
3. Please read and consider the following article:
Bourguignon, F. and C. Morrisson (2002), “Inequality among World Citizens: 1820- 1992”, American Economic Review, 92(4): 727-744.
a. What measures of inequality are utilized in this paper? In your own words, explain these inequality measures.
i. Discuss the measures utilized in this paper: what are the advantages of using each one?
ii. would the measures adopted yield equivalent results? Would these different measures create issues for the analysis?
b. One conclusion of this paper is that '...world income inequality worsened
dramatically over the past two centuries...'. In your own words, describe why the authors reached that conclusion.
c. In your opinion, if any, mention three weaknesses of the analysis in the paper.