Data and Dogma : The Great Indian Poverty Debate

What happened to poverty in India in the 1990s has been fiercely debated, both politically and statistically. The debate has run parallel to the wider debate about globalization and poverty in the 1990s and is also an important part of that debate....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Deaton, Angus, Kozel, Valerie
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2013
Subjects:	ACCOUNTING AGRICULTURAL LABORERS AGRICULTURAL WAGES AGRICULTURAL YIELDS ANNUAL GROWTH AVERAGE INCOMES CHANGES IN POVERTY CONFLICT CONSUMER DURABLES CONSUMER EXPENDITURE CONSUMER EXPENDITURES CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMER PRICES CONSUMER SPENDING CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES COUNTRY SPECIFIC CREDIBILITY DECLINE IN POVERTY DEPOSITORS DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DROP IN POVERTY DUMMY VARIABLES DURABLE DURABLE GOODS DURABLES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC REFORM ECONOMIC REFORMS ECONOMICS EMPIRICAL WORK ESTIMATES OF POVERTY EXPLANATORY VARIABLES EXTERNAL FACTORS FEDERAL RESERVE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES FOOD ITEMS GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBAL POVERTY GLOBALIZATION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HEADCOUNT POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATIO HIGH POVERTY HOUSEHOLD BUDGET HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INCOME INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME SHARE INCOME TAX INCREASING INEQUALITY INEQUALITY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INSTRUMENT INSURANCE INSURANCE COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS LAND HOLDING LENDERS LIVING STANDARD LIVING STANDARDS MARKET INFORMATION MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY MEASURING POVERTY MILK NATIONAL ACCOUNTS NATIONAL POVERTY PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE POLICY ANALYSIS POLICY CHANGE POLICY CHANGES POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL INFLUENCE POOR POOR COUNTRIES POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY ASSESSMENTS POVERTY DATA POVERTY DEBATE POVERTY DECLINE POVERTY ESTIMATES POVERTY INCIDENCE POVERTY LEVELS POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY MONITORING SYSTEM POVERTY RATE POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION RATE OF RETURN REDUCED POVERTY REDUCING POVERTY REDUCTION IN POVERTY REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE RETURNS RICH COUNTRIES RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL CONSUMER RURAL HEADCOUNT RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL POOR RURAL POOR PEOPLE RURAL POPULATION RURAL POVERTY RURAL POVERTY LINES SOCIAL PROTECTION STOCKS UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS URBAN POVERTY VEGETABLES VULNERABLE GROUPS WAGE RATES
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/09/17592041/data-dogma-great-indian-poverty-debate http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16403

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Summary:	What happened to poverty in India in the 1990s has been fiercely debated, both politically and statistically. The debate has run parallel to the wider debate about globalization and poverty in the 1990s and is also an important part of that debate. The economic reforms of the early 1990s in India were followed by rates of economic growth that were high by historical standards. The effects on poverty remain controversial, however. The official numbers published by the government of India, showing acceleration in the rate of poverty reduction from 36 percent of the population in 1993 to 1994 to 26 percent in 1999 to 2000, have been challenged for showing both too little and too much poverty reduction. The various claims have often been frankly political, but there are also many important statistical issues. The debate, reviewed in this article, provides an excellent example of how politics and statistics interact in an important, largely domestic debate. Although there is no consensus on what happened to poverty in India in the 1990s, there is good evidence both that poverty fell and that the official estimates of poverty reduction are too optimistic, particularly for rural India. The issues covered in this article, although concerned with the measurement of poverty in India, have wide international relevance discrepancies between surveys and national accounts, the effects of questionnaire design, reporting periods, survey nonresponse, repair of imperfect data, choice of poverty lines, and interplay between statistics and politics.

Data and Dogma : The Great Indian Poverty Debate

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