Mind the Gap : Disparities in Assessments of Living Standards Using National Accounts and Household Surveys
Estimates of average per capita consumption and income from national accounts differ substantially from corresponding measures of consumption and income from household surveys. Using a new compilation of more than 2,000 household surveys matched to...
| 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/undefined/505211632322896934/Mind-the-Gap-Disparities-in-Assessments-of-Living-Standards-Using-National-Accounts-and-Household-Surveys http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36306 |
| Summary: | Estimates of average per capita
consumption and income from national accounts differ
substantially from corresponding measures of consumption and
income from household surveys. Using a new compilation of
more than 2,000 household surveys matched to national
accounts data, this study finds that the gaps between the
data sources are larger and more robust than previously
established. Means of household consumption estimated from
surveys are, on average, 20 percent lower than corresponding
means from national accounts. The gap with gross domestic
product per capita is nearly 50 percent. The gaps have
increased in recent decades and are largest in middle-income
countries, where annualized growth rates for consumption
surveys are systematically lower than national accounts
growth rates. The paper shows that the gaps in measures
across these two sources have implications for assessments
of economic growth, poverty, and inequality. The study finds
that typical survey measures of consumption and income may
exaggerate poverty reduction and underestimate inequality. |
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