Poverty and inequality

Instructions

  • For the data, right-click, “save/download file as…”
  • Open the data
  • Complete all of the tasks associated with that data and keep track of your answers / images
  • Once you are done, go on Canvas and answer the questions related to the assignment
    • the Canvas assignment is timed; if you open it prior to completing the tasks you will run out of time

Skills used:

  • Sorting/filtering
  • Summary statistics
  • grouped summary statistics

My awkward Google Sheets video tutorials are here

Task 1: Land Invasions in Brazil

Let’s look at this data on land invasions in Brazilian municipalities (similar to a US district) between 1988 and 2004. This data covers all of Brazil, not just rural areas.

original labels
ext_pov Extreme Poverty (Percent) 1991
landgini Land Gini
occs Land Invasions 1988-2004
logarea Logged (Land Area)
logfam Logged (Families Involved in Land Invasions) 1988-2004
logpop Logged (Population) 1991

  1. Look at one or two of the municipalities with the highest rates of land invasions. Look them up online, and also see if you can find any reference to invasions happening there (OK if you don’t); what are these places like? Where are they within Brazil? What stands out about them? (2 pt)

  2. Calculate and report the following across the sample: a) average percent of extreme poverty; b) average Gini coefficent; c) the sum of all land occupations. Briefly discuss the magnitude of these statistics; are they surprising? Larger or smaller than expected? (2 pt)

  3. What percent of municipalities have experienced at least one land invasion? (1 pt)

  4. Which municipality has the most equal distribution of land? (1 pt)

Task 2: Measuring Wealth

Let’s look at data on household assets from Honduras in 2018. Each of the r columns tells you whether or not a household has a particular asset (e.g., fridge, cell phone, etc.). If a household has the asset, the variable = 1, otherwise = 0.

Note that this is called a “dummy” variable; if you take the mean of a dummy variable you get a proportion (e.g., who’s had coffee today? answers = 1, 1, 0, 0, 1 –> 3 / 5 –> 0.6 –> 60% of people have had coffee).

  1. What percent of households have a cellphone in the home? (1 pt)

  2. What percent of RURAL households have drinking water in the home? (1 pt)

  3. About how much more likely is a household in an urban area to have an indoor bathroom than a household in a rural area? Report the difference in percentage points. (1 pt)

  4. Pick three other variables and calculate the percent of respondents who own the asset or other economic variable, broken down by whether the household is in an urban or rural area. Discuss the patterns. Are there any big differences? Brief: 2-3 sentences. (2 pt)

original labels
pais Country
ed Years of Schooling
q10new_18 Monthly Household Income
r1 Television in Home
r3 Refrigerator in Home
r4 Landline in Home
r4a Cellular Telephone in Home
r5 Number of Vehicles at the House
r6 Washing Machine in Home
r7 Microwave Oven in Home
r8 Owns Motorcycle
r12 Drinking water in Home
r14 Indoor Bathroom in Home
r15 Computer in Home
r16 Flat Panel TV in Home
r18 Internet Service in Home
ur Urban/Rural
q14 Intends to Live or Work Abroad
fs2 Has Run Out of Food in the Last 3 Months (1 = yes)
fs8 Has Gone without Meals in the Last 3 Months (1 = yes)
wf1 Receives Government Assistance (1 = yes)