On Standard of Living and Infant Survival in Some East African Countries

Authors

  • Jacques Silber Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25079/ukhjss.v3n2y2019.pp56-67

Keywords:

Bonferroni index; East Africa; Gini index; Gini concentration ratio; infant mortality.

Abstract

To summarize the extent of infant survival in a country, three indices have been defined. The first one is the complement to 1000 of the infant mortality rate (expressed in per thousand births). The second one takes into account the inequality in infant survival rates between population subgroups. The third indicator adjusts the average infant survival rate by giving more weight to a population subgroup with a lower socio-economic status. The computation of the last two indicators requires the use of an inequality index and a concentration ratio.We used two measures of inequality, the Gini index and the Bonferroni index, as well as two concentration ratios, derived from the Gini index and related to the Bonferroni index. A short empirical illustration, based on seven East African countries, confirms the usefulness of the approach presented in this paper.

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Author Biography

  • Jacques Silber, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Jacques Silber is professor emeritus of economics at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and a specialist in the measurement of income inequality, poverty, and segregation. He is the author of more than one hundred scientific papers and of several books, among them, the Handbook on Income Inequality Measurement. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Economic Inequality, is editor of the book series Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion and Well-Being (Springer), and has edited several special issues of academic journals. He was president of ECINEQ, the International Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, between 2011 and 2013. Silber holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is also a senior research fellow at LISER, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg and a Honorary Fellow at Centro Camilo Dagum, Tuscan Interuniversity Centre, Advanced Statistics for Equitable and Sustainable Development, Italy.

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Published

2019-12-28

Issue

Section

Research Articles

How to Cite

On Standard of Living and Infant Survival in Some East African Countries. (2019). UKH Journal of Social Sciences, 3(2), 56-67. https://doi.org/10.25079/ukhjss.v3n2y2019.pp56-67

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