Consumption Subaggregates Should Not Be Used to Measure Poverty

doi:10.1093/wber/lhab021

Publication:
Consumption Subaggregates Should Not Be Used to Measure Poverty

creativeworkseries.issn	1564-698X
dc.contributor.author	Ligon, Ethan
dc.contributor.author	Christiaensen, Luc
dc.contributor.author	Sohnesen, Thomas Pave
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-17T20:20:18Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-17T20:20:18Z
dc.date.issued	2021-09-06
dc.description.abstract	Frequent measurement of poverty is challenging because measurement often relies on complex and expensive expenditure surveys that try to measure expenditures on a comprehensive consumption aggregate. This paper investigates the use of consumption subaggregates instead. The use of consumption subaggregates is theoretically justified if and only if all Engel curves are linear for any realization of prices. This is very stringent. However, it may be possible to empirically identify certain goods that happen to have linear Engel curves given prevailing prices, and when the effect of price changes is small, such a subaggregate might work in practice. The paper constructs such linear subaggregates using data from Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The findings show that using subaggregates is ill advised in practice as well as in theory. This also raises questions about the consistency of the poverty tracking efforts currently applied across countries, since obtaining exhaustive consumption measures remains an unmet challenge.	en
dc.identifier	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099940012082310064/IDU0a8cb1e100fd800472a0a6ff01f19f5609e66
dc.identifier.citation	The World Bank Economic Review
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/40910
dc.identifier.issn	0258-6770 (print)
dc.identifier.issn	1564-698X (online)
dc.identifier.uri	https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/40910
dc.language	English
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseries	World Bank Economic Review
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/
dc.subject	CONSUMPTION SUBAGGREGATES
dc.subject	POVERTY
dc.subject	ENGEL CURVES
dc.title	Consumption Subaggregates Should Not Be Used to Measure Poverty	en
dc.type	Journal Article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.associatedcontent	https://academic.oup.com/wber/article/36/2/413/6364497 Journal website (version of record)
okr.crossref.title	Consumption Subaggregates Should Not Be Used to Measure Poverty
okr.date.disclosure	2024-01-17
okr.date.lastmodified	2023-12-11T00:00:00Z	en
okr.doctype	Journal Article
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.docurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099940012082310064/IDU0a8cb1e100fd800472a0a6ff01f19f5609e66
okr.guid	099940012082310064
okr.identifier.docmid	IDU-a8cb1e10-fd80-472a-a6ff-1f19f5609e66
okr.identifier.doi	10.1093/wber/lhab021
okr.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/40910
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum	34210955
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	34210955
okr.identifier.report	186293
okr.import.id	2915
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.pagenumber	413-432
okr.pdfurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099940012082310064/pdf/IDU0a8cb1e100fd800472a0a6ff01f19f5609e66.pdf	en
okr.peerreview	Academic Peer Review
okr.region.geographical	World
okr.topic	Macroeconomics and Economic Growth::Consumption
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Poverty Assessment
okr.unit	Agriculture and Food PG AFR2 (SAEA2)
okr.volume	36 (2)
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