Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267407 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15670
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The COVID-19 pandemic placed new constraints and prices on commuting to work around the world. However, traditional methods of measuring household welfare (and, accordingly, poverty and inequality) based on expenditures have not considered these changes. First, we present theory showing significant mismeasurement of welfare for households who can shift into remote work during the pandemic. We then propose methods to impute transportation cost equivalents for household expenditure aggregates. We use Georgia as a case study to compare these methods and assess impacts on poverty and inequality. The proportion of remote work is low, only about 9%, meaning that the impact on overall inequality is negligible. However, considering transportation costs can result in up to a 40% reduction in the measured poverty rate among remote-working households.
Subjects: 
poverty measurement
inequality measurement
consumption aggregate
expenditures
imputation
living costs
COVID-19
welfare
JEL: 
I32
D30
R20
J32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
893.7 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.