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After sketching the mutual links between economic growth, agriculture, technology, poverty reduction and external factors, this paper analyses the implications of recent international price shocks on welfare and growth, notably energy and agricultural products, for Burkina Faso, a less industrialised, low-income, food-deficit, net oil-importing country. The socio-economic impacts of the above-mentioned external shocks are analysed by means of a Computable General Equilibrium model (CGE). The paper also discusses the extent to which technological changes in agriculture, specifically the introduction of “Good Agricultural Practices” (GAP) towards “conservation agriculture”, could mitigate the welfare and growth losses derived by international price shocks.  Additionally, it is shown [...]

This paper introduces the key principles and methods related to socio-economic and livelihoods analysis in investment planning. It includes a discussion of the importance of understanding the constraints of the rural poor in identification and preparation of investment programmes. It explains the processes of identifying the constraints of the rural poor, the extent and nature of their vulnerability, and their coping strategies in times of food shortage. In addition, it provides an understanding of the roles/functions of rural institutions and presents some methods used in community analysis. Finally, it discusses the implications of socio-economic and livelihoods analysis for the design [...]

This analytical tool illustrates the concept of social welfare and the possible ways to define social welfare functions. In particular, it deals with how to pass from inequality to social welfare analysis and how social welfare analysis may embody different attitudes with regard to inequality aversion. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples are also discussed to give operational content to the tool. For more information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Generalised Lorenz Curves. [...]

This module illustrates the simplest ways to measure inequality drawing on the statistical concepts of location, shape and variability. In particular, the following measures will be addressed: a) the range; b) the relative mean deviation; c) the variance; d) the coefficient of variation; and e) the standard deviation of logharitms. For all these measures, step-by-step procedures and numerical examples are also discussed. For more information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Policy Impacts on Inequality: Inequality and Axioms for its Measurement. EASYPol Series 054 This [...]

This tool illustrates the concept of desirable properties any inequality index should respect. In particular, it introduces the distinction between a positive and a normative approach to inequality analysis. Then, it discusses the role of axioms in inequality measurement and their conceptual meaning. Finally, using the Gini Index and the variance, a step-by-step procedure and numerical examples are introduced for operational purposes. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: [...]

This analytical tool illustrates how to decompose inequality measures by income sources. In particular, it discusses this decomposition in the context of the Gini and the Theil Indexes. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples give operational content to the tool. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Describing Income Inequality. Theil Index and Entropy Class Indexes. EASYPol Series 051 Policy Impacts on Inequality: Decomposition of Income Inequality by Subgroups. EASYPol Series 052 This paper is part of [...]

This analytical tool illustrates how to decompose inequality measures by subgroups of populations. In particular, it defines the concepts of within and between inequality and analyses how different inequality indexes perform with respect to this decomposition. In particular, the performance of the analysis of variance, the Gini Index and the Theil Index will be discussed. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples give operational content to the tool. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Describing [...]

This analytical tool illustrates the entropy class of inequality indexes. In particular, it shows how different inequality indexes may be obtained by using a general definition (class) of indexes by assigning different values to a fixed parameter. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples then show how to move from conceptual to operational ground. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPOl Series 001 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Crossing Generalised Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Sereis 003 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol [...]

This analytical tool illustrates one of the most popular welfare-based measures of inequality, the Atkinson Index . In particular, it discusses the foundations of this Index, in terms of social welfare specifications, and the concept of equally distributed equivalent income on which the measure is based. The use of this measure is then exemplified in a step-by-step procedure and in a numerical example. For further information, see also: Impacts of Policies on Poverty: Distributional Poverty Measures Poverty Analysis: Poverty and Dominance Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Social Welfare, Social Welfare Functions and Inequality Aversion This paper is part of the FAO Policy series: EASYPol-Resources [...]

This analytical tool addresses the most popular inequality index, the Gini index. It discusses its characteristics and the link with another popular graphical tool of representing inequality, the Lorenz Curve. Extended version of the Gini Index with different weighting schemes are also discussed. The use of the Gini Index and of its generalised versions is explained through a step-by-step procedure and numerical examples. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Impacts of Policies on Poverty. Basic Poverty Measures. EASYPol Series 007 Policy Impacts on Inequality: Inequality and Axioms for its Measurement. EASYPol Series 054 Policy Impacts on Inequality: [...]