Publication:
Identifying the Poor: Accounting for Household Economies of Scale in Global Poverty Estimates

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dc.contributor.authorTetteh Baah, Samuel Kofi
dc.contributor.authorJolliffe, Dean
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-19T16:01:17Z
dc.date.available2022-10-19T16:01:17Z
dc.date.issued2022-10
dc.description.abstractEstimates of the number of people living in extreme poverty, as reported by the World Bank, figure prominently in international development dialogue and policy. An assumption underpinning these poverty counts is that there are no economies of scale in household size—a family of six needs three times as much as a family of two. This paper examines the sensitivity of global estimates of extreme poverty to changing this assumption. The analysis rests on nationally representative household surveys from 162 countries covering 98 percent of the population estimated to be in extreme poverty in 2017. The paper compares current-method estimates with a constant-elasticity scale adjustment that divides total household consumption or income not by household size but by the square root of household size. While the regional profile of extreme poverty is robust to this change, the determination of who is poor changes substantially—the poverty status of 270 million people changes. The paper then shows that the measure that accounts for economies of scale is significantly more correlated with a set of presumed poverty covariates (years of schooling, literacy, asset index, working in agriculture, access to electricity, piped drinking water, and improved sanitation).en
dc.identifierhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099116210172210147/IDU0d253ce79097d604a370b4dd086b73941ff60
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-10209
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/38179
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWorld Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPolicy Research Working Papers;10209
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subjectGLOBAL POVERTY
dc.subjectHOUSEHOLD ECONOMIES OF SCALE
dc.subjectSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
dc.subjectEXTREME POVERTY ESTIMATE
dc.subjectPOVERTY COVARIANTS
dc.subjectPOVERTY MEASUREMENT
dc.subjectPOOR HOUSEHOLD SIZE
dc.titleIdentifying the Pooren
dc.title.subtitleAccounting for Household Economies of Scale in Global Poverty Estimatesen
dc.typeWorking Paperen
dc.typeDocument de travailfr
dc.typeDocumento de trabajoes
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.crossref.titleIdentifying the Poor — Accounting for Household Economies of Scale in Global Poverty Estimates
okr.date.disclosure2022-10-17
okr.date.doiregistration2025-04-10T10:00:15.798021Z
okr.date.lastmodified2022-10-17T00:00:00Zen
okr.doctypePolicy Research Working Paper
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.docurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099116210172210147/IDU0d253ce79097d604a370b4dd086b73941ff60
okr.guid099116210172210147
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/1813-9450-10209
okr.identifier.externaldocumentumIDU-d253ce79-97d6-4a37-b4dd-86b73941ff60
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum33919027
okr.identifier.reportWPS10209
okr.importedtrueen
okr.language.supporteden
okr.pdfurlhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099116210172210147/pdf/IDU0d253ce79097d604a370b4dd086b73941ff60.pdfen
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Living Standards
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Poverty Assessment
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Poverty Monitoring & Analysis
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Poverty and Policy
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationa5bfeac1-cf4b-504a-8f79-9dc2aea50436
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoverya5bfeac1-cf4b-504a-8f79-9dc2aea50436
relation.isSeriesOfPublication26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
relation.isSeriesOfPublication.latestForDiscovery26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
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