International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia

This paper explores the methodological differences underlying the construction of the national consumption aggregates that are used to estimate international poverty rates for all countries in the South Asia region, including Afghanistan, Banglades...

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Main Authors:	Islam, Tonmoy, Newhouse, David, Yanez-Pagans, Monica
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	POVERTY MEASUREMENT CONSUMPTION IMPUTED RENT AGGREGATE VARIABLE CONSUMPTION AGGREGATE EXTREME POVERTY POVERTY LINE POVERTY RATE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/805971545243107437/International-Comparisons-of-Poverty-in-South-Asia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31085

id	okr-10986-31085
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-310852021-06-08T14:42:45Z International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia Islam, Tonmoy Newhouse, David Yanez-Pagans, Monica POVERTY MEASUREMENT CONSUMPTION IMPUTED RENT AGGREGATE VARIABLE CONSUMPTION AGGREGATE EXTREME POVERTY POVERTY LINE POVERTY RATE This paper explores the methodological differences underlying the construction of the national consumption aggregates that are used to estimate international poverty rates for all countries in the South Asia region, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The analysis draws on a regional dataset of standardized consumption aggregates to assess the sensitivity of international poverty rates to the items included in national consumption aggregates. A key feature of the standardized aggregate is that it includes the reported value of housing rent for urban Indian homeowners. Using the standardized consumption aggregates reduces the international poverty rate in South Asia by 1.3 percentage points, or about 18.5 million people. Comparing standardized and non-standardized monetary welfare indicators to other nonmonetary indicators suggests that the latter are more consistent with the standardized consumption aggregates. Overall, the results strongly suggest that harmonizing the construction of welfare measures, particularly the treatment of imputed rent, can meaningfully improve the accuracy of international poverty comparisons. 2018-12-28T17:13:37Z 2018-12-28T17:13:37Z 2018-12 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/805971545243107437/International-Comparisons-of-Poverty-in-South-Asia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31085 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8683 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 South Asia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	POVERTY MEASUREMENT CONSUMPTION IMPUTED RENT AGGREGATE VARIABLE CONSUMPTION AGGREGATE EXTREME POVERTY POVERTY LINE POVERTY RATE
spellingShingle	POVERTY MEASUREMENT CONSUMPTION IMPUTED RENT AGGREGATE VARIABLE CONSUMPTION AGGREGATE EXTREME POVERTY POVERTY LINE POVERTY RATE Islam, Tonmoy Newhouse, David Yanez-Pagans, Monica International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
geographic_facet	South Asia
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8683
description	This paper explores the methodological differences underlying the construction of the national consumption aggregates that are used to estimate international poverty rates for all countries in the South Asia region, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The analysis draws on a regional dataset of standardized consumption aggregates to assess the sensitivity of international poverty rates to the items included in national consumption aggregates. A key feature of the standardized aggregate is that it includes the reported value of housing rent for urban Indian homeowners. Using the standardized consumption aggregates reduces the international poverty rate in South Asia by 1.3 percentage points, or about 18.5 million people. Comparing standardized and non-standardized monetary welfare indicators to other nonmonetary indicators suggests that the latter are more consistent with the standardized consumption aggregates. Overall, the results strongly suggest that harmonizing the construction of welfare measures, particularly the treatment of imputed rent, can meaningfully improve the accuracy of international poverty comparisons.
format	Working Paper
author	Islam, Tonmoy Newhouse, David Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_facet	Islam, Tonmoy Newhouse, David Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_sort	Islam, Tonmoy
title	International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
title_short	International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
title_full	International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
title_fullStr	International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
title_full_unstemmed	International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia
title_sort	international comparisons of poverty in south asia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/805971545243107437/International-Comparisons-of-Poverty-in-South-Asia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31085
_version_	1764473576280293376

International Comparisons of Poverty in South Asia

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