Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions

Past research has found that subjective questions about an individuals' economic status do not correspond closely to measures of economic welfare based on household income or consumption. Survey respondents undoubtedly hold diverse ideas about...

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Main Authors:	Beegle, Kathleen, Himelein, Kristen, Ravallion, Martin
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	AGRICULTURE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT ISSUES DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH DIET ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXTREME POOR HOUSEHOLDS EXTREME POVERTY FARMLAND FEMALE FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FISH FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE FOOD SECURITY FOOD SPENDING GENDER HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD CONTROLS HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME EFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INCOMES INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE LIVESTOCK LIVING CONDITIONS LIVING STANDARDS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY MEASURING POVERTY NON-FOOD COMPONENT OCCUPATION PER CAPITA INCOME PERMANENT INCOME POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR AREAS POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POOR PERSON POVERTY LINE PUBLIC GOOD PURCHASING POWER REAL INCOME RURAL SOCIAL SCIENCES SUBJECTIVE POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS UTILITY FUNCTION WEALTH WELFARE COMPARISONS WELFARE FUNCTION
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090929133925 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4258

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spelling	okr-10986-42582021-04-23T14:02:16Z Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions Beegle, Kathleen Himelein, Kristen Ravallion, Martin AGRICULTURE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT ISSUES DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH DIET ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXTREME POOR HOUSEHOLDS EXTREME POVERTY FARMLAND FEMALE FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FISH FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE FOOD SECURITY FOOD SPENDING GENDER HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD CONTROLS HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME EFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INCOMES INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE LIVESTOCK LIVING CONDITIONS LIVING STANDARDS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY MEASURING POVERTY NON-FOOD COMPONENT OCCUPATION PER CAPITA INCOME PERMANENT INCOME POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR AREAS POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POOR PERSON POVERTY LINE PUBLIC GOOD PURCHASING POWER REAL INCOME RURAL SOCIAL SCIENCES SUBJECTIVE POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS UTILITY FUNCTION WEALTH WELFARE COMPARISONS WELFARE FUNCTION Past research has found that subjective questions about an individuals' economic status do not correspond closely to measures of economic welfare based on household income or consumption. Survey respondents undoubtedly hold diverse ideas about what it means to be "poor" or "rich." Further, this heterogeneity may be correlated with other characteristics, including welfare, leading to frame-of-reference bias. To test for this bias, vignettes were added to a nationally representative survey of Tajikistan, in which survey respondents rank the economic status of the theoretical vignette households, as well as their own. The vignette rankings are used to reveal the respondent's own scale. The findings indicate that respondents hold diverse scales in assessing their welfare, but that there is little bias in either the economic gradient of subjective welfare or most other coefficients on covariates of interest. These results provide a firmer foundation for standard survey methods and regression specifications for subjective welfare data. 2012-03-19T19:12:45Z 2012-03-19T19:12:45Z 2009-04-01 http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090929133925 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4258 English Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP),Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 4904 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper The World Region The World Region
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	AGRICULTURE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT ISSUES DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH DIET ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXTREME POOR HOUSEHOLDS EXTREME POVERTY FARMLAND FEMALE FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FISH FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE FOOD SECURITY FOOD SPENDING GENDER HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD CONTROLS HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME EFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INCOMES INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE LIVESTOCK LIVING CONDITIONS LIVING STANDARDS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY MEASURING POVERTY NON-FOOD COMPONENT OCCUPATION PER CAPITA INCOME PERMANENT INCOME POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR AREAS POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POOR PERSON POVERTY LINE PUBLIC GOOD PURCHASING POWER REAL INCOME RURAL SOCIAL SCIENCES SUBJECTIVE POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS UTILITY FUNCTION WEALTH WELFARE COMPARISONS WELFARE FUNCTION
spellingShingle	AGRICULTURE DESCRIPTION DEVELOPMENT ISSUES DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH DIET ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC REVIEW ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXTREME POOR HOUSEHOLDS EXTREME POVERTY FARMLAND FEMALE FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS FISH FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE FOOD SECURITY FOOD SPENDING GENDER HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS HOUSEHOLD CONTROLS HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEAD AGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME EFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INCOMES INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE LIVESTOCK LIVING CONDITIONS LIVING STANDARDS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT LIVING STANDARDS SURVEY MEASURING POVERTY NON-FOOD COMPONENT OCCUPATION PER CAPITA INCOME PERMANENT INCOME POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR AREAS POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POOR PERSON POVERTY LINE PUBLIC GOOD PURCHASING POWER REAL INCOME RURAL SOCIAL SCIENCES SUBJECTIVE POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS UTILITY FUNCTION WEALTH WELFARE COMPARISONS WELFARE FUNCTION Beegle, Kathleen Himelein, Kristen Ravallion, Martin Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
geographic_facet	The World Region The World Region
relation	Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP),Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 4904
description	Past research has found that subjective questions about an individuals' economic status do not correspond closely to measures of economic welfare based on household income or consumption. Survey respondents undoubtedly hold diverse ideas about what it means to be "poor" or "rich." Further, this heterogeneity may be correlated with other characteristics, including welfare, leading to frame-of-reference bias. To test for this bias, vignettes were added to a nationally representative survey of Tajikistan, in which survey respondents rank the economic status of the theoretical vignette households, as well as their own. The vignette rankings are used to reveal the respondent's own scale. The findings indicate that respondents hold diverse scales in assessing their welfare, but that there is little bias in either the economic gradient of subjective welfare or most other coefficients on covariates of interest. These results provide a firmer foundation for standard survey methods and regression specifications for subjective welfare data.
format	Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author	Beegle, Kathleen Himelein, Kristen Ravallion, Martin
author_facet	Beegle, Kathleen Himelein, Kristen Ravallion, Martin
author_sort	Beegle, Kathleen
title	Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
title_short	Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
title_full	Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
title_fullStr	Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
title_full_unstemmed	Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions
title_sort	frame-of-reference bias in subjective welfare regressions
publishDate	2012
url	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20090929133925 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4258
_version_	1764390630421692416

Frame-of-Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions

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