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Identifying the poor – Accounting for household economies of scale in global poverty estimates

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dc.contributor.authorJolliffe, Dean
dc.contributor.authorTetteh-Baah, Samuel Kofi
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-22T18:42:10Z
dc.date.available2024-05-22T18:42:10Z
dc.date.issued2024-03-30
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 97.5 percent of the population estimated to be in extreme poverty in 2019. We compare 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 264 million people changes. We then discuss evidence suggesting that the assumption of economies of scale more closely aligns with non-consumption measures of poverty. Specifically, we draw from existing literature of subjective assessments of poverty and wellbeing, along with new empirical evidence from examining the partial correlation (conditional on household size) between the two measures of poverty and a set of presumed poverty covariates (i.e., years of schooling, literacy, asset index, working in agriculture, access to electricity, piped drinking water, improved sanitation).en
dc.identifier.citationWorld Development
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/41582
dc.identifier.issn0305-750X
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/41582
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/
dc.subjectGLOBAL POVERTY
dc.subjectHOUSEHOLD ECONOMIES OF SCALE
dc.subjectSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
dc.titleIdentifying the poor – Accounting for household economies of scale in global poverty estimatesen
dc.typeJournal Article
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.associatedcontenthttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X24000639 Journal website (version of record)
okr.crossref.titleIdentifying the poor – Accounting for household economies of scale in global poverty estimates
okr.date.disclosure2024-05-22
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Journal Article
okr.externalcontentExternal Content
okr.identifier.doi10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106593
okr.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1596/41582
okr.peerreviewAcademic Peer Review
okr.region.geographicalWorld
okr.topicPoverty Reduction::Poverty Assessment
okr.topicUrban Development::Urban Housing
okr.topicSocial Protections and Labor::Social Protections & Assistance
okr.volume179
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