ASSESSMENT OF POVERTY AND INEQUALITY INTO SECTOR COMPONENTS IN CAMEROON
MBU DANIEL TAMBI *
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Dschang, Cameroon.
WIRBAM MARY-JULIET BIME
Department of Agribusiness Technology, University of Bamenda, Cameroon.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study deals with the Assessment of Poverty and Inequality into Sector Components in Cameroon using the 1996 and 2001 household survey data. The research objectives to be address are: I) to examine the evolution of poverty and inequality between 1996 and 2001, 2) to assess the relative importance of the Within and Between sector effects to changes in aggregate poverty, 3) to evaluate the relative Contributions of the Within and Between sector effects to levels and changes in inequality and 4) to derive policy implications on the basis of the analysis. The empirical estimates were computed in the DAD 4.4 software using money-metric derived non-parametrically. The results of poverty show that the Within-zones effects account for much of monetary poverty changes than Between-zones effects. As for inequality, income highlights the dominant role of Within-group components in accounting for inequality trends. In terms of policy, we encourage growth-based labour intensive policies.
Keywords: Assessment; poverty, inequality, sector-component, Cameroon.