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On the utility consistency of poverty lines

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  • Ravallion, Martin
  • Lokshin, Michael

Abstract

Although poverty lines are widely used as deflators for inter-group welfare comparisons, their internal consistency is rarely given close scrutiny. A priori considerations suggest that commonly used methods cannot be relied on to yield poverty lines that are consistent in terms of utility, or for capabilities more generally. The theory of revealed preference offers testable implications of utility consistency for"poverty baskets"under homogeneous preferences. A case study of Russia's official poverty lines reveals numerous violations of revealed preference criteria-violations that are not solely attributable to heterogeneity in preferences associated with climatic differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2003. "On the utility consistency of poverty lines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3157, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3157
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Ravallion, Martin & Bidani, Benu, 1994. "How Robust Is a Poverty Profile?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 8(1), pages 75-102, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lisa Grace S. Bernales, 2009. "Issues on the Official Poverty Estimation Methodology in the Philippines : Comparability of Estimates across Space and over Time," Development Economics Working Papers 23092, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    2. Alfani, Federica & Azzarri, Carlo & d'Errico, Marco & Molini, Vasco, 2012. "Poverty in Mozambique : new evidence from recent household surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6217, The World Bank.
    3. Radwan Shaban & Hiromi Asoaka & Bob Barnes & Vladimir Drebentsov & John Langenbrunner & Sajaia Zurab & James Stevens & David Tarr & Emil Tesliuc & Olga Shabalina & Ruslan Yemtsov, 2006. "Reducing Poverty through Growth and Social Policy Reform in Russia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6955, December.
    4. Kenneth R. Simler & Channing Arndt, 2007. "Poverty Comparisons With Absolute Poverty Lines Estimated From Survey Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(2), pages 275-294, June.
    5. Jose Ramon Albert & Wilma Molano, 2009. "Estimation of the Food Poverty Line," Development Economics Working Papers 22948, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    6. Sanjaya Acharya, 2004. "Measuring and Analyzing Poverty," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 1(2), pages 195-215, December.
    7. Jose Ramon Alber & Wilma Molano, 2016. "Estimation of the Food Poverty Line," Working Papers id:11226, eSocialSciences.
    8. World Bank, 2006. "Making the New Indonesia Work for the Poor," World Bank Publications - Reports 8172, The World Bank Group.
    9. Arndt, Channing & Simler, Kenneth R., 2005. "Estimating utility-consistent poverty lines," FCND briefs 189, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Bersales, Lisa Grace S., 2009. "Issues on the Official Poverty Estimation Methodology in the Philippines: Comparability of Estimates across Space and over Time," Discussion Papers DP 2009-17, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    11. Celso Nunes, 2008. "Poverty Measurement: The Development of Different Approaches and Its Techniques," Working Papers 93, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    12. Rafiou Alfa Boukari, 2021. "Repenser la lutte contre la pauvreté et des inégalités par l’innovation dans les modèles de développement," Working Papers hal-03177195, HAL.
    13. World Bank, 2005. "Russia : Reducing Poverty through Growth and Social Policy Reform," World Bank Publications - Reports 8523, The World Bank Group.
    14. Lisa Grace S. Bersales, 2009. "Issues on the Official Poverty Estimation Methodology in the Philippines : Comparability of Estimates across Space and Over Time," Development Economics Working Papers 22950, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    15. Kanbur, Ravi & Shaffer, Paul, 2007. "Epistemology, Normative Theory and Poverty Analysis: Implications for Q-Squared in Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 183-196, February.
    16. Indraneel Dasgupta & Ravi Kanbur, 2005. "Community and anti-poverty targeting," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 3(3), pages 281-302, December.
    17. Bronfman, Javier, 2007. "Poverty Lines, What are they telling us?," MPRA Paper 63263, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Apr 2009.
    18. World Bank, 2008. "Mozambique - Beating the Odds : Sustaining Inclusion in a Growing Economy - A Mozambique Poverty, Gender, and Social Assessment, Volume 1. Main Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 7981, The World Bank Group.
    19. ALi Abdel Gadir Ali, "undated". "Poverty in the Arab Region: A Selective Review," API-Working Paper Series 0402, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    20. Marcelo Bérgolo & Martí­n Leites & Gonzalo Salas, 2006. "Privaciones nutricionales : su ví­nculo con la pobreza y el ingreso monetario," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 06-03, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    21. Julia Johannsen & Manfred Zeller & Stephan Klasen, 2007. "The capability dilemma in operational poverty assessment," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 159, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.

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