Household’s Income Inequality in Burkina Faso: Analysis by the Multi-Decomposition of Gini Index

Abstract

The objective of this study is to make contribution on the knowledge of sources of inequality in the formation of farm households’ income. The multi-decomposition of the Gini index is used to calculate the contributions of each source of income, each sub-group and each pair (source/sub-group) to the formation of total inequality of income. This type of decomposition allows knowing income inequalities progress in different regions and among socio-economic groups due to policy changes. Data used in this study come from the Permanent Agricultural Surveys 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, in Burkina Faso. The results show the influence of geographic and socio-economic sources of inequality in the formation of farm households’ income.

Keywords : Burkina Faso; household income; Inequality; Gini index; multi-decomposition.