Document Type : ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Authors
1 Associate Professor in Department of Economics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of ilam, ilam, Iran
2 Asistant Professor in Department of Economics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of ilam, ilam, Iran
3 Associate Professor in Department of Economics, Faculty of economics, Allameh Tabataba'i University, tehran, Iran
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the regionalization of subsidies at the level of rural areas of Iran. In this regard, poverty line and poverty indicators were calculated based on the income -expenditures data of rural households in 2022.Then,by using the hierarchical clustering method, the rural areas of the provinces were classified into eight clusters, and finally, using a numerical method that maximizes the reduction in the poverty indicators by group transfers , the results of national and regional targeting were compared. The results show that the characteristics of household size, head education and the number of members under six years of age are the most effective for targeting poverty. Despite this issue, the results revealed significant differences. This difference exists in the demographic share of the target groups, the amount of subsidies paid, the effectiveness of targeting and in poverty reduction. Therefore,even if the policy maker wants to target the same households at the national and regional level based on individual characteristics or a combination of them, it is still necessary to pay different amounts to the same population groups at the level of different regions. Also, it should not be assumed that using a targeting method alone will solve all the problems of identifying the poor, but for more efficiency, it is necessary to use a combination of targeting methods, in this context, the geographic/regional targeting method is generally used as the first step.
Keywords
)