Diamonds in the Rough? : Repurposing Multi-Topic Surveys to Estimate Individual-Level Consumption Poverty
Traditional per capita measures of poverty assign the same poverty status to individuals living in the same household and overlook differences in living standards within households. There has been a long-standing need for a tool that enables povert...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/354631620913886186/Diamonds-in-the-Rough-Repurposing-Multi-Topic-Surveys-to-Estimate-Individual-Level-Consumption-Poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35608 |
| Summary: | Traditional per capita measures of
poverty assign the same poverty status to individuals living
in the same household and overlook differences in living
standards within households. There has been a long-standing
need for a tool that enables poverty measurement at the
individual level, while avoiding overly complex estimation
techniques and, if possible, using readily available
household survey data. An ordinary least squares–based
strategy was recently introduced to estimate individual
resource shares. This paper presents the theory behind this
approach in an accessible fashion for those interested in
individual-level consumption poverty measurement using
existing household survey data. The strategy’s assumptions
are compared with the assumptions of the prevailing per
capita approach to deriving poverty estimates. The empirical
analysis presents competing individual-level poverty
estimates in four diverse countries under the individual
resource shares strategy versus the per capita approach. The
results suggest that poverty is underestimated under the per
capita approach. There is further evidence that women may be
poorer than men, and that children and the elderly are
disproportionately affected by poverty. However, the pursuit
of the individual resource shares approach reveals
cross-country heterogeneity in the extent of increase in
headcount poverty estimates, and in the direction of change
in headcount poverty estimates for men and women. The paper
concludes with suggestions for further methodological
research in this area. |
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