From 69e19bee74b88d05c6f3881e84d0ac0e889e917e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Marty Oehme Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2022 11:03:00 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Integrate feedback Benin --- _drivers-of-inequality-benin.qmd | 19 +++++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/_drivers-of-inequality-benin.qmd b/_drivers-of-inequality-benin.qmd index e042eb6..99151c2 100644 --- a/_drivers-of-inequality-benin.qmd +++ b/_drivers-of-inequality-benin.qmd @@ -23,12 +23,14 @@ with the reduction threatened to be slowed further through increased prices on f ```{python} #| label: fig-ben #| fig-cap: "Gini index of consumption per capita for Benin. Source: Author's elaboration based on UNU-WIDER WIID (2022)." -plot_consumption_gini_percapita(ben) +gni_cnsmpt = ben[ben['resource'].str.contains("Consumption")] +gni_cnsmpt_percapita = gni_cnsmpt[gni_cnsmpt['scale'].str.contains("Per capita")] +gini_plot(gni_cnsmpt_percapita) ``` Based on its national poverty line, Benin's overall poverty rate is 38.5%, -though it hides a strong spatial disparity between rural and urban households with 44.2% to 31.4% households in poverty respectively [@WorldBank2022b]. +though it hides a strong spatial disparity in the incidence of poverty between rural (44.2%) and urban (31.4) areas [@WorldBank2022b]. Looking at the effect of income growth on the time to exit poverty, @Alia2017 finds a general negative correlation with stronger growth indeed leading to shorter average exit times (7-10 years for a household at a per capita growth rate of 4.2%), though this aggregate also hides a large heterogeneity primarily determined by a households size, its available human capital and whether it is located rurally. @@ -39,8 +41,8 @@ are in danger of being left further behind during periods of overall growth. with efforts to open up communities to harness the benefits of growth often primarily targeted at rural communities. -For the household-level factor of education for this disparity, -the Learning Poverty index shows that in Benin 56% of children at late primary age are not proficient in reading, +Using the Learning Poverty index, which combines the share of school deprivation (the share of primary-aged children out-of-school) and learning deprivation (share of pupils below a minimum proficiency in reading), +a @WorldBank2022a report shows that 56% of children at late primary age in Benin are not proficient in reading, 55% do not achieve minimum proficiency levels at the end of primary school and 3% of primary school-aged children are not enrolled in school at all. Looking purely at attendance rates, @McNabb2018 finds that the primary household-level determinants of attendance are the wealth of a household, its religion, as well as the education level of its household head. @@ -54,6 +56,8 @@ the difference in school quality is large, marked by high socio-economic segregation between schools, and primarily determined through an unequal distribution of teaching resources including teachers and textbooks. +### Inequalities in access to electricity + Thus, while growth is generally pro-poor in Benin, its primary determinants do not cluster only at the household level, but are comprised of partly household-level but especially community-level differences. @@ -63,8 +67,7 @@ are the primary determinants, ahead even of access to a health facility in the c Access to electricity in the country especially underlies a large heterogeneity based on location. The overall level of electrification of Benin has been rising slowly --- though outpacing population growth --- -from 22% in 2000 to 26% in 2005, 34% in 2010, a regression to 30% in 2015 and a faster increase to 40% in 2019, however, -there is a broad difference of electrification levels between urban (65%) and rural (17%) regions remaining [@WorldBank2021]. +from 22% in 2000 to 26% in 2005, 34% in 2010, a decline to 30% in 2015 and then a faster increase to 40% in 2019, altough a broad difference in electrification levels between urban (65%) and rural (17%) regions remain [@WorldBank2021]. In rural areas there are generally three approaches to electrification that work outside of a connection to the main grid, individual installation of solar panels or generators for smaller electric appliances, collective solutions like kiosks offering electric charging for some cost, @@ -87,13 +90,13 @@ and an overall lack of affordable financing solutions. Thus, though having a relatively stable and growing real GDP, -Benin suffers from slow decreases in its relative poverty rates coupled with a relative stagnation in the inequality of its wealth dispersion. +Benin suffers from slow decreases in its poverty rates coupled with a relative unchanged income inequality. Additionally, the country's poverty rates have a high heterogeneity with relatively more rural households and households with poor education in poverty. A large part of education disparities happens at the community-level, with schools marked by high socio-economic segregation, but household-level disparities, especially environmental ones, playing a role. One of those determinants is a household's access to electricity, of which there is an enormous disparity between urban and rural households. -The primary reasons for not having access to electricity are simple physical non-availability with no infrastructure being available in rural areas, +The primary reasons for not having access to electricity are the lack of physical infrastructure available in rural areas, as well as connection costs to the main electrical grid being too high. To decrease the effects of this driving force of inequality, both infrastructural expansion as well as policy commitments toward affordable connections to electrical grids are thus of vital importance.