Mapping and Poverty

I did a quick assessment of minimal food needs for an average person. There’s a little extra built in. This is what I came up with as reasonable in the US.

per day (does not include my dependents).

Assume 2100 calories a day for a month. 63 000 calories a month.

3 fruit and 2 vegetables/day

3 cups of milk and 4 oz cheese+ 1 egg

1 cup cereal + 1 cup rice + 1 cup beans+1/2 cup flour

3 tbpsn oil or marg

In terms of calories it comes to:

300+60+306+452+320+240+227+77+118=2100

Financially, where I live now, in one month, it comes to:

6 gallons of milk $25

2.5 dozen cage-free chicken eggs $5

5 boxes of cereal $15

80 oz of rice $3

oil/margarine 2 oz per tablespoon, 6 oz a day, 148 oz/month 3 tubs and 100 oz $19 + $12

120 oz of cheese/month (10 12 oz packs) $25

16 cups of flour $1

100 apples $25

5 lb carrots $4

30 lb potatoes $7

1 head of cabbage $3

greens $7

8 tomatoes $9

coffee or tea $5

yeast, pepper, and spices $5

shampoo, soap, and cleaning $5

Using $200 as a New York food stamp allowance, and adjusting according to the grocery cost index as a function of country presented here, I get the following annual grocery expenditures by country with this level of sustainability (that I admit is a “needs met” standard):

Tables

C1 is the grocery index/100 and multiplied by 200 (US food stamp allowance)

C2 is by year

C3 is 3X this, which is an incorrect short cut to other cost of living assessments. yearly dollar amount estimating groceries to be 33% of need.

	C1	C2	C3
Albania	80.46	965.52	2896.56
Algeria	87.52	1050.24	3150.72
Argentina	129.04	1548.48	4645.44
Australia	257.38	3088.56	9265.68
Austria	185.5	2226	6678
Azerbaijan	135.76	1629.12	4887.36
Bahrain	325.82	3909.84	11729.5
Bangladesh	77.02	924.24	2772.72
Belarus	83.78	1005.36	3016.08
Belgium	180.28	2163.36	6490.08
Bolivia	72.84	874.08	2622.24
Bosnia And Herzegovina	94.86	1138.32	3414.96
Brazil	107.94	1295.28	3885.84
Bulgaria	93.78	1125.36	3376.08
Cambodia	128.7	1544.4	4633.2
Canada	202.48	2429.76	7289.28
Chile	116.3	1395.6	4186.8
Greece	149.34	1792.08	5376.24
Hong Kong	159.64	1915.68	5747.04
Hungary	101.74	1220.88	3662.64
Iceland	237.62	2851.44	8554.32
India	65.02	780.24	2340.72
Indonesia	102	1224	3672
Iran	118.56	1422.72	4268.16
Iraq	101.78	1221.36	3664.08
Ireland	211.1	2533.2	7599.6
Israel	153.84	1846.08	5538.24
Italy	174.62	2095.44	6286.32
Japan	225.66	2707.92	8123.76
Jordan	113.56	1362.72	4088.16
Kazakhstan	102.68	1232.16	3696.48
Kenya	121.92	1463.04	4389.12
Kuwait	157.98	1895.76	5687.28
Latvia	110.72	1328.64	3985.92
Lebanon	116.12	1393.44	4180.32
Lithuania	110.72	1328.64	3985.92
Luxembourg	223.56	2682.72	8048.16
Macedonia	76.88	922.56	2767.68
Malaysia	102.92	1235.04	3705.12
Malta	147.36	1768.32	5304.96
Mauritius	86.92	1043.04	3129.12
Mexico	104.96	1259.52	3778.56
Moldova	76.56	918.72	2756.16
Montenegro	112.04	1344.48	4033.44
Morocco	89.42	1073.04	3219.12
Nepal	73.46	881.52	2644.56
Netherlands	162.22	1946.64	5839.92
New Zealand	223.36	2680.32	8040.96
Nigeria	185.86	2230.32	6690.96
Norway	325.06	3900.72	11702.2
Oman	102.74	1232.88	3698.64
Pakistan	64.18	770.16	2310.48
Panama	117.66	1411.92	4235.76
Peru	85.24	1022.88	3068.64
Philippines	102.46	1229.52	3688.56
Poland	93.16	1117.92	3353.76
Portugal	122.5	1470	4410
Puerto Rico	166.9	2002.8	6008.4
Qatar	150	1800	5400
Romania	94.62	1135.44	3406.32
Russia	113.76	1365.12	4095.36
Saudi Arabia	148.94	1787.28	5361.84
Serbia	87.06	1044.72	3134.16
Singapore	182.38	2188.56	6565.68
Slovakia	112.32	1347.84	4043.52
Slovenia	140.98	1691.76	5075.28
South Africa	105.72	1268.64	3805.92
South Korea	188.24	2258.88	6776.64
Spain	133.1	1597.2	4791.6
Sri Lanka	110	1320	3960
Sweden	211.14	2533.68	7601.04
Switzerland	306.1	3673.2	11019.6
Syria	73.4	880.8	2642.4
Taiwan	159.92	1919.04	5757.12
Tanzania	118.4	1420.8	4262.4
Thailand	115.86	1390.32	4170.96
Trinidad And Tobago	111.6	1339.2	4017.6
Tunisia	88.78	1065.36	3196.08
Turkey	100.08	1200.96	3602.88
Ukraine	82.96	995.52	2986.56
United Arab Emirates	129.98	1559.76	4679.28
United Kingdom	186.12	2233.44	6700.32
United States	161.48	1937.76	5813.28
Uruguay	141.06	1692.72	5078.16
Venezuela	252.74	3032.88	9098.64
Vietnam	83.54	1002.48	3007.44

I guess that now, I would like to know what percentage of the population lives below this dollar amount in each country. There are a couple of different applets out there. One local one, puts me in the bottom 3% of the US population, at this level. A more global perspective puts me in the top 30% of the world population at this level. I found this paper (Sala-i-Martin, 2002 draft), and although I haven’t read it yet, I contemplated the graphs at the end. Many of the graphs are trimodal. Is the first peak the dependent peak, the second peak the economic peak, and the third peak the inherited wealth peak? I think he later collaborates with someone from MIT, and most of the graphs become seemingly more unimodal (still bimodal but only one peak apparent in the distribution).

Doing some math: basically for it to be a map, I think, every x has to have one and only one y, but a y can have more than one x. To expand things a little, an animal with wings would not map onto an animal without wings, but a 6 legged animal might map onto a 2 legged animal (but not vice-versa). For example, taking an object, and creating 2 doubles, is explicitly forbidden according to the rules. We very quickly get into problems of precision and semantics here!

A couple of counter examples here: