Decomposing inequality and poverty in post-war Rwanda: The roles of gender, education, wealth and location

Decomposing inequality and poverty in post-war Rwanda: The roles of gender, education, wealth and location

Author: 
Finnoff, Kade
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis Group
Date published: 
2015
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Development Southern Africa
Source: 
Development Southern Africa, Vol. 32, No. 2, March 2015, pp. 209-228
Abstract: 

This paper provides an overview of poverty and inequality in post-war Rwanda. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world, and has recently become one of the most unequal. High levels of poverty and inequality have important implications not only in terms of evaluations of social welfare, but also for management of social tensions and the propensity for violent conflict in the future. This paper uses the first two available and nationally representative rounds of household surveys ?EICV1 2000 and EICV2 2005 ? to decompose and identify the major ?sources' of poverty and inequality in the country. I find stark differences in vulnerability to poverty by region, gender and widow status of the head of household. I additionally find important changes in the ?income generating functions' of Rwandan households, and that distribution of land and financial assets are increasingly important in determining the inter-household distribution of income.

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CITATION: Finnoff, Kade. Decomposing inequality and poverty in post-war Rwanda: The roles of gender, education, wealth and location . : Taylor & Francis Group , 2015. Development Southern Africa, Vol. 32, No. 2, March 2015, pp. 209-228 - Available at: https://library.au.int/decomposing-inequality-and-poverty-post-war-rwanda-roles-gender-education-wealth-and-location-0