Can Subjective Questions on Economic Welfare Be Trusted? Evidence for Three Developing Countries

Can Subjective Questions on Economic Welfare Be Trusted? Evidence for Three Developing Countries

While self-assessments of welfare have become popular for measuring poverty and estimating welfare effects, the methods can be deceptive given systematic heterogeneity in respondents' scales. Little is known about this problem. This study uses...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Ravallion, Martin, Himelein, Kristen, Beegle, Kathleen
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ADMINISTRATIVE REGION ADULT MALE AGRICULTURE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ISSUES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMIC WELFARE ECONOMICS LITERATURE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXPECTED VALUES FARMLAND FUNCTIONAL FORMS FUTURE RESEARCH HETEROGENEITY HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INCOME INCOME EFFECT INCOME POVERTY INEQUALITY INTERNAL CONSISTENCY LAND HOLDINGS LAND SIZE LANDOWNER LIVING STANDARDS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY MARKET ECONOMIES MEASURING POVERTY MEAT MICRO-REGIONS NATURE PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION POLICY MAKERS POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR AREA POOR AREAS POOR HOUSEHOLD POOR PEOPLE POOR PEOPLES POORER PEOPLE POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY RATE POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION PUBLIC GOOD QUALITATIVE DATA RANDOM VARIABLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS RICH COUNTRIES RUNNING WATER RURAL SCHOOLING SELF-RATED POVERTY SOCIAL WELFARE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENTS SUBJECTIVE POVERTY UNCERTAINTY UNEMPLOYMENT VARIANCE VARIETY WEALTH WELFARE COMPARISONS WELFARE FUNCTION WELFARE LEVELS WELFARE MEASURE WELFARE MEASURES WELFARE METRIC WELFARE VARIABLE WINTER MONTHS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/12/18661004/can-subjective-questions-economic-welfare-trusted-evidence-three-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16942

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Summary:	While self-assessments of welfare have become popular for measuring poverty and estimating welfare effects, the methods can be deceptive given systematic heterogeneity in respondents' scales. Little is known about this problem. This study uses specially-designed surveys in three countries, Tajikistan, Guatemala, and Tanzania, to study scale heterogeneity. Respondents were asked to score stylized vignettes, as well as their own household. Diverse scales are in evidence, casting considerable doubt on the meaning of widely-used summary measures such as subjective poverty rates. Nonetheless, under the identifying assumptions of the study, only small biases are induced in the coefficients on widely-used regressors for subjective poverty and welfare.

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