Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/192533 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 551
Publisher: 
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Oslo
Abstract: 
Despite a broad consensus on the need to account for the value of public services and geographical cost of living differences on the measurement of poverty, there is little reliable evidence on how these factors actually affect poverty estimates. Unlike the standard approach in studies of the distribution of public services, this paper employs a method for valuing sector-specific local public services that accounts for differences between municipalities in the costs and capacity to produce public services. Furthermore, recipient frequencies in various demographic groups are used as the basis for determining the allocation of the value of these services on citizens of the municipalities. Geographical differences in living costs are accounted for by using municipal housing price indices or by replacing the country-specific poverty line with municipal-specific poverty lines. Applying Norwegian register data for the period 1993-2001, we find that disregarding the value of local public services and geographic cost of living differences yields a misleading picture of poverty.
Subjects: 
Poverty
public services
in-kind transfers
geographical cost of living differences
housing price indices
municipal-specific poverty lines
JEL: 
D31
H72
I30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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