Individualising wealth and asset measures in the Global South: Challenges and new directions for research

Individual-level data on assets and wealth provide a crucial lever to gain a perspective on intra-household resource allocation and power relations. Having defined assets and wealth, we review critical issues that merit attention when collecting and analysing individual-level data on these, particularly in the global south, using household surveys. These issues include: conceptualising ownership; determining which assets must be enumerated; deciding who and how many people in the household should be interviewed; identifying appropriate asset valuation measures; and choosing relevant indicators to measure gender inequality in assets and wealth. The chapter draws on recent empirical work to recommend how researchers can best address these issues. Future research on individualising asset and wealth measures would benefit from collecting information on the institutional and legal frameworks that affect women’s ability to own property; using qualitative methods to complement survey data; exploring the potential of administrative data; and applying an intersectional analytical approach.