The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor

The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor

Asset ownership indices are widely used as inexpensive proxies for consumption. This paper shows that these indices can be augmented using dichotomous indicators for consumption, which are equally easy to obtain. The paper uses multiple rounds of L...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ngo, Diana, Christiaensen, Luc
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
ASSET INDEX
POVERTY LINE
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
CONSUMPTION PROXY
PROXY-MEANS TESTING
LIVING STANDARDS
LSMS
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/882101520515555525/The-performance-of-a-consumption-augmented-asset-index-in-ranking-Households-and-Identifying-the-Poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29456
id okr-10986-29456
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-294562021-06-08T14:42:45Z The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor Ngo, Diana Christiaensen, Luc ASSET INDEX POVERTY LINE POVERTY MEASUREMENT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION CONSUMPTION PROXY PROXY-MEANS TESTING LIVING STANDARDS LSMS Asset ownership indices are widely used as inexpensive proxies for consumption. This paper shows that these indices can be augmented using dichotomous indicators for consumption, which are equally easy to obtain. The paper uses multiple rounds of Living Standards Measurement Study surveys from Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ghana to construct indices with different item subcategories and performs a meta-analysis comparing the indices to per capita consumption. The results show that the standard asset indices, which are derived from durable ownership and housing characteristic indicators, perform well in urban settings. Yet, in rural samples and when identifying the extreme poor, household rankings and poverty classification accuracy can be meaningfully improved by adding indicators of food and semi-durable consumption. The study finds small improvement from using national weights in urban samples but no improvement from using alternative construction methods. With most of Africa’s poor concentrated in rural areas, these are important insights. 2018-03-15T15:19:21Z 2018-03-15T15:19:21Z 2018-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/882101520515555525/The-performance-of-a-consumption-augmented-asset-index-in-ranking-Households-and-Identifying-the-Poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29456 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8362 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Ghana Malawi Rwanda Tanzania Uganda
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ASSET INDEX
POVERTY LINE
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
CONSUMPTION PROXY
PROXY-MEANS TESTING
LIVING STANDARDS
LSMS
spellingShingle ASSET INDEX
POVERTY LINE
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
CONSUMPTION PROXY
PROXY-MEANS TESTING
LIVING STANDARDS
LSMS
Ngo, Diana
Christiaensen, Luc
The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
geographic_facet Africa
Ghana
Malawi
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8362
description Asset ownership indices are widely used as inexpensive proxies for consumption. This paper shows that these indices can be augmented using dichotomous indicators for consumption, which are equally easy to obtain. The paper uses multiple rounds of Living Standards Measurement Study surveys from Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ghana to construct indices with different item subcategories and performs a meta-analysis comparing the indices to per capita consumption. The results show that the standard asset indices, which are derived from durable ownership and housing characteristic indicators, perform well in urban settings. Yet, in rural samples and when identifying the extreme poor, household rankings and poverty classification accuracy can be meaningfully improved by adding indicators of food and semi-durable consumption. The study finds small improvement from using national weights in urban samples but no improvement from using alternative construction methods. With most of Africa’s poor concentrated in rural areas, these are important insights.
format Working Paper
author Ngo, Diana
Christiaensen, Luc
author_facet Ngo, Diana
Christiaensen, Luc
author_sort Ngo, Diana
title The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
title_short The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
title_full The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
title_fullStr The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
title_full_unstemmed The Performance of a Consumption Augmented Asset Index in Ranking Households and Identifying the Poor
title_sort performance of a consumption augmented asset index in ranking households and identifying the poor
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/882101520515555525/The-performance-of-a-consumption-augmented-asset-index-in-ranking-Households-and-Identifying-the-Poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29456
_version_ 1764469395675938816

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