Relações entre pobreza absoluta, renda média e desigualdade da distribuição de renda

Abstract

The paper analyses, for a given poverty line, how the headcount ratio of the poor, Sen's poverty index and the poverty measure of Foster, Greer and Thorbecke vary with the mean income and the Gini index of the income distribution. It is shown that the mean income or the inequality of the income distribution can change without any impact on those measures of absolute poverty. However, if the income distribution is lognormal, those measures of poverty are functions of the mean income and the Gini index. The paper analyses the form of these functions. Finally, the relationship between absolute poverty, mean income and the Gini index is analysed for the data on income distribution in 360 microrregions of Brazil in 1980 and also for data on income distribution in Brazil during the period 1979/90.