Himelein, KristenRavallion, MartinBeegle, Kathleen2014-02-052014-02-052013-12https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16942While self-assessments of welfare have become popular for measuring poverty and estimating welfare effects, the methods can be deceptive given systematic heterogeneity in respondents' scales. Little is known about this problem. This study uses specially-designed surveys in three countries, Tajikistan, Guatemala, and Tanzania, to study scale heterogeneity. Respondents were asked to score stylized vignettes, as well as their own household. Diverse scales are in evidence, casting considerable doubt on the meaning of widely-used summary measures such as subjective poverty rates. Nonetheless, under the identifying assumptions of the study, only small biases are induced in the coefficients on widely-used regressors for subjective poverty and welfare.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOADMINISTRATIVE REGIONADULT MALEAGRICULTURECOMPARATIVE ANALYSISCONSUMER BEHAVIORCONSUMPTION PER CAPITACROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONSDEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ISSUESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC WELFAREECONOMICS LITERATUREEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPLOYMENT STATUSEXPECTED VALUESFARMLANDFUNCTIONAL FORMSFUTURE RESEARCHHETEROGENEITYHOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICSHOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICSHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD HEAD AGEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOMEINCOME EFFECTINCOME POVERTYINEQUALITYINTERNAL CONSISTENCYLAND HOLDINGSLAND SIZELANDOWNERLIVING STANDARDSLIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENTLIVING STANDARDS SURVEYMARKET ECONOMIESMEASURING POVERTYMEATMICRO-REGIONSNATUREPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY RESEARCHPOORPOOR AREAPOOR AREASPOOR HOUSEHOLDPOOR PEOPLEPOOR PEOPLESPOORER PEOPLEPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPUBLIC GOODQUALITATIVE DATARANDOM VARIABLEREGRESSION ANALYSISRICH COUNTRIESRUNNING WATERRURALSCHOOLINGSELF-RATED POVERTYSOCIAL WELFARESTATISTICAL ANALYSISSUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENTSSUBJECTIVE POVERTYUNCERTAINTYUNEMPLOYMENTVARIANCEVARIETYWEALTHWELFARE COMPARISONSWELFARE FUNCTIONWELFARE LEVELSWELFARE MEASUREWELFARE MEASURESWELFARE METRICWELFARE VARIABLEWINTER MONTHSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6726