Poverty comparisons with non-compatible data: theory and illustrations
Abstract
Comparisons of poverty rates are only rarely based on identical underlying definitions of welfare. The authors examine the sensitivity of poverty rates calculated from alternative definitions of consumption. They consider what theory can say about the direction of bias in comparisons and show that under certain conditions robust comparisons are possible. Data from Ecuador, El Salvador, and Pakistan show that the magnitude of biases can be substantial. Their robustness result is used as a baseline to explore the tradeoffs involved in aggregating noisy expenditure components. Although nonfood expenditures are often thought to be especially poorly measured, the authors'data indicate that the more comprehensive is the measure of consumption spending, the better it is as a measure of welfare.Download Info
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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1709.Length:
Date of creation: 31 Jan 1997
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1709
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Keywords: Public Health Promotion; Environmental Economics&Policies; Poverty Reduction Strategies; Health Economics&Finance; Services&Transfers to Poor; Poverty Reduction Strategies; Achieving Shared Growth; Poverty Assessment; Environmental Economics&Policies; Poverty Lines;References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Schady, Norbert & Rosero, Jose, 2007.
"Are cash transfers made to women spent like other sources of income?,"
Policy Research Working Paper Series
4282, The World Bank.
- Schady, Norbert & Rosero, José, 2008. "Are cash transfers made to women spent like other sources of income?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 246-248, December.
- Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1998.
"Changes in poverty in rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: measurement, robustness tests and decomposition,"
Economics Series Working Papers
WPS/1998-07, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
- Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1998. "Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition," Center for Economic Studies - Discussion papers ces9819, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën.
- Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1998. "Changes in poverty in rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: measurement, robustness tests and decomposition," CSAE Working Paper Series 1998-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
- Hentschel, Jesko & Lanjouw, Jean Olson & Lanjouw, Peter & Poggi, Javier, 1998. "Combining census and survey data to study spatial dimensions of poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1928, The World Bank.
- Lanjouw, Peter, 1998. "Ecuador's rural nonfarm sector as a route out of poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1904, The World Bank.
- Francisco de Hollanda Guimarães Ferreira & Peter Lanjouw & Marcelo Neri, 2000.
"A new poverty profile for Brazil using PPV, PNAD and census data,"
Textos para discussão
418, Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil).
- Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Peter Lanjouw & Marcelo Neri, 2001. "A New Poverty Profile For Brazil Using PPV, PNAD And Census Data," Anais do XXIX Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 29th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 100, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
- Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Lanjouw, Peter & Neri, Marcelo Cortes, 2002.
"A Robust Poverty Profile for Brazil Using Multiple Data Sources,"
Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE)
444, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
- Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Peter Lanjouw & Marcelo Côrtes Neri, 2003. "A Robust Poverty Profile for Brazil Using Multiple Data Sources," Revista Brasileira de Economia, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), vol. 57(1), pages 59-92, January.
- Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 1998. "La pauvreté en Mauritanie : une approche multidimensionnelle," Documents de travail 31, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
- Lanjouw, Peter & Milanovic, Branko & Paternostro, Stefano, 1998. "Poverty and the economic transition : how do changes in economies of scale affect poverty rates for different households?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2009, The World Bank.
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