Income inequalities and well-being in rural Pakistan

Shams, Khadija (2012) Income inequalities and well-being in rural Pakistan. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Income inequalities and subjective well-being have been increasingly
identified in the literature as important measures of socio-economic cohesion.
This is particularly relevant for developing economies that are typically
characterised by strong population growth and relatively low incomes
per head. Although in those economies a considerable share of resources is
derived from rural areas, data availability for these regions is often an issue
which precludes important insights into the overall socio-economic tissue
of the developing world. This dissertation seeks to advance our knowledge
on various aspects of inequalities and well-being with particular emphasis
on rural Pakistan. At the core of the present monograph lie three chapters
that deal with income inequality, subjective well-being as well as physical
well-being (i.e. health). The empirical analysis is based on a unique survey
dataset that covers the four provinces of rural Pakistan. The dissertation
seeks to contribute to the existing literature in several dimensions. We
decompose overall income inequality by its different types to disentangle
which sources of income are inequality-increasing and which ones reduce
socio-economic divergence. The empirical measurement and assessment of
both subjective and physical well-being in rural Pakistan is a rather novel
aspect. We introduce and examine different well-being measures as indicators
of (subjective) poverty and find that well-being in rural areas is largely
driven by financial factors. When it comes to health, however, overall results
are less clear-cut. The thesis is therefore able to offer several policy
recommendations for important socio-economic factors in rural Pakistan.
On a more general note, some of the results discussed might also illuminate
the policy debate in other geographic areas with similar characteristics.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Inequalities, Poverty, Well-being
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races; H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics
• Supervisor's Name: Angeles, Dr. Luis
• Date of Award: 2012
• Depositing User: Miss Khadija Shams
• Unique ID: glathesis:2012-3261
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2012
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:05
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3261