Analysis of the determinants of monetary poverty in Argentina during the 2003-2019 period

Abstract

Despite the improvements in welfare shown since the start of the 2000s decade, poverty in Argentina is still high and concern for it’s eradication is central for the country’s economic and political agenda. This article analyzes the determinants associated with the evolution of monetary poverty in Argentina during the 2003-2010 and 2010-2019 periods. To approach this objective the RIF methodology of decomposition was applied to the data of the Permanent Poll of Households (Encuesta Permanente de Hogares) provided by INDEC. The resuslts show that the variation of the returns to the attributes of the homes is the most important effect for explaining the reduction of poverty in the first period and it’s rise in the second one. Furthermore, it was found that the demographic, educational and labor characteristics of the members of a household are the most relevant factors for explaining the evolution of the poverty rate. The presented evidence is novel and helps to comprehend the underlying causes for the changes in the lack of income in Argentina during the recent period.