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Is Inequality Underestimated in Egypt? Evidence from House Prices / Roy van der Weide.
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (formerly "World Bank E-Library Publications") Available online
View online- Format:
- Book
- Government document
- Author/Creator:
- van der Weide, Roy.
- Series:
- Policy research working papers.
- World Bank e-Library.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Income.
- Macroeconomics and economic growth.
- Poverty diagnostics.
- Poverty impact evaluation.
- Poverty reduction.
- Private sector development.
- Local Subjects:
- Income.
- Macroeconomics and economic growth.
- Poverty diagnostics.
- Poverty impact evaluation.
- Poverty reduction.
- Private sector development.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (31 pages)
- Place of Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, 2016.
- System Details:
- data file
- Summary:
- Household income surveys often fail to capture top incomes which leads to an underestimation of income inequality. A popular solution is to combine the household survey with data from income tax records, which has been found to result in significant upward corrections of inequality estimates. Unfortunately, tax records are unavailable in many countries, including most of the developing world. In the absence of data from tax records, this study explores the feasibility of using data on house prices to estimate the top tail of the income distribution. In an application to Egypt, where estimates of inequality based on household surveys alone are low by international standards, the study finds strong evidence that inequality is indeed being underestimated by a considerable margin. The Gini index for urban Egypt is found to increase from 36 to 47 after correcting for the missing top tail.
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