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Prices for poverty analysis in Africa

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  • Gaddis,Isis

Abstract

Measuring poverty requires adjusting nominal consumption (or income) into a real value of consumption, across geographic areas and over time. To this end, data on consumer prices are used to construct a price index. There are a range of approaches to do this, from using the consumer price index, to survey-based unit values, which differ in the underlying sources of price data and methodologies for indexing. These different approaches can have large impacts on poverty measures and trends. Surprisingly little attention has been focused on this topic. This study reviews a range of issues and the evidence on how prices matter for measuring poverty, particularly in Africa. It draws on a wide literature, much from developed countries, and offers suggestions for future work in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaddis,Isis, 2016. "Prices for poverty analysis in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7652, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7652
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    Cited by:

    1. Shohei Nakamura & Rawaa Harati & Somik V. Lall & Yuri M. Dikhanov & Nada Hamadeh & William Vigil Oliver & Marko Olavi Rissanen & Mizuki Yamanaka, 2019. "Is living in African cities expensive?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(12), pages 1007-1012, July.
    2. Andrew Dabalen & Isis Gaddis & Nga Thi Viet Nguyen, 2020. "CPI Bias and its Implications for Poverty Reduction in Africa," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 13-44, March.
    3. Leandro De Magalhães & Dongya Koh & Raül Santaeulàlia-Llopis, 2016. "Consumption and Expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 16/677, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK, revised 07 Oct 2016.
    4. Leandro DE MAGALHÃES & Dongya KOH & Räul SANTAEULILA-LLOPIS, 2019. "The Cost of Consumption Smoothing: Less Schooling and less Nutrition," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(3), pages 181-208, September.
    5. Ayca Donmez & Gloria Solano-Hermosilla & Vladimir Bougay & Balaji Subbaraman & Robert M'barek & Abdoulaye Adam & Stephen Bahemuka & Oliver J. M. Chinganya & Vladimir Eskin & Koua Louis Kouakou & Charl, 2017. "Using web and mobile phone technologies to collect food market prices in Africa. Approaching real-time data and use of crowdsourcing, 2013 - 2016," JRC Research Reports JRC104311, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Arab Yarmohamadi, Javad & Abounoori, Esmaiel & Salem, Ali Asghar, 2016. "The Effect of Regional Price Adjustment of Household Expenditures on Poverty Indices in Iran’s Urban Areas," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 11(2), pages 119-134, April.
    7. Abuelhaj, Tareq & Gassmann, Franziska & O'Donoghue, Cathal, 2018. "Price opinion data in subsidized economies: Empirical evidence from Iraq," MERIT Working Papers 2018-033, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Shohei Nakamura & Rawaa Harati & Somik V Lall & Yuri M Dikhanov & Nada Hamadeh & William Vigil Oliver & Marko Olavi Rissanen & Mizuki Yamanaka, 2020. "Comparing Costs of Living across World Cities," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(Supplemen), pages 79-88.

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