Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Umeå Economic Studies,
Umeå University, Department of Economics
No 650: Heterogeneity or True State Dependence in Poverty - The tale told by twins
William Nilsson ()
Additional contact information
William Nilsson: Department of Economics, Umeå University, Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Abstract: This study focuses on the persistence of poverty in Sweden. The purpose is to distinguish between two different reasons why poverty could persist on an individual level. By using a sample of identical twins, this study takes advantage of the similarity within pairs of twins to separate family specific heterogeneity from true state dependence, where the experience of poverty leads to a higher risk of future poverty. The results, based on a four variate probit model, show the importance of true state dependence in poverty. When using the information on whether an individual received social assistance as a measure of poverty, family specific heterogeneity explains between 24 and 31 percent of the poverty persistence in the sample.
Keywords: poverty; heterogeneity; state dependence; twins; multivariate probit
40 pages, April 8, 2005
Full text files
DownloadAsset.action...Id=3&assetKey=ues650
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to David Skog ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().
This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:13:51.