A household level analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of poverty in the Philippines
Date
2016-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The recent poverty report filed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows
that the country has a poverty incidence estimated to be at 26.3 percent in the first
semester of 2015. With this, it is only crucial to determine the socioeconomic factors that
affect the poverty status of households in the Philippines using the most recent data
available, to take into account the latest changes in the characteristics of the population.
The study could thus serve as a contributing element for policy implications that target
poverty reduction. The variables that are observed for poverty measurement are per
capita income and probabilistic statements on the poverty profile of a household. The
study uses three different approaches in measuring the poverty status, namely: a) the
natural logarithm of per capita income, b) binomial logistic model, and c) ordered logistic
model; which compensate for one another’s weaknesses. These logistic methods have not
yet been used in examining poverty determinants in the Philippines. The characteristics
of households in rural and urban areas will also be differentiated. Being that household
information is needed in this study, the data set to be used is the most recent and available
2012 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) conducted by the National Statistics
Office (NSO). Results may lead to a better understanding of poverty in the Philippines,
providing policy makers a clearer picture of the problem they are trying to address and
thus, helping them come up with policies that are up-to-date and fit to the poverty
situation today.
Description
Keywords
Poverty, per capita income, households, natural log, ordered logistic, binomial logistic