Deaton, AngusKozel, Valerie2013-12-192013-12-192005-09-01World Bank Research Observerdoi:10.1093/wbro/lki009https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16403What happened to poverty in India in the 1990s has been fiercely debated, both politically and statistically. The debate has run parallel to the wider debate about globalization and poverty in the 1990s and is also an important part of that debate. The economic reforms of the early 1990s in India were followed by rates of economic growth that were high by historical standards. The effects on poverty remain controversial, however. The official numbers published by the government of India, showing acceleration in the rate of poverty reduction from 36 percent of the population in 1993 to 1994 to 26 percent in 1999 to 2000, have been challenged for showing both too little and too much poverty reduction. The various claims have often been frankly political, but there are also many important statistical issues. The debate, reviewed in this article, provides an excellent example of how politics and statistics interact in an important, largely domestic debate. Although there is no consensus on what happened to poverty in India in the 1990s, there is good evidence both that poverty fell and that the official estimates of poverty reduction are too optimistic, particularly for rural India. The issues covered in this article, although concerned with the measurement of poverty in India, have wide international relevance discrepancies between surveys and national accounts, the effects of questionnaire design, reporting periods, survey nonresponse, repair of imperfect data, choice of poverty lines, and interplay between statistics and politics.en-USCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGAGRICULTURAL LABORERSAGRICULTURAL WAGESAGRICULTURAL YIELDSANNUAL GROWTHAVERAGE INCOMESCHANGES IN POVERTYCONFLICTCONSUMER DURABLESCONSUMER EXPENDITURECONSUMER EXPENDITURESCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMER PRICESCONSUMER SPENDINGCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION EXPENDITURESCOUNTRY SPECIFICCREDIBILITYDECLINE IN POVERTYDEPOSITORSDETERMINANTS OF POVERTYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDROP IN POVERTYDUMMY VARIABLESDURABLEDURABLE GOODSDURABLESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC REFORMECONOMIC REFORMSECONOMICSEMPIRICAL WORKESTIMATES OF POVERTYEXPLANATORY VARIABLESEXTERNAL FACTORSFEDERAL RESERVEFEDERAL RESERVE BANKFINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIESFOOD ITEMSGLOBAL MARKETSGLOBAL POVERTYGLOBALIZATIONGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHEADCOUNT POVERTYHEADCOUNT RATIOHIGH POVERTYHOUSEHOLD BUDGETHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOMEINCOME DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME SHAREINCOME TAXINCREASING INEQUALITYINEQUALITYINFLATIONINFLATION RATEINSTRUMENTINSURANCEINSURANCE COMPANIESINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL ECONOMICSINTERNATIONAL STANDARDSLAND HOLDINGLENDERSLIVING STANDARDLIVING STANDARDSMARKET INFORMATIONMEASUREMENT OF POVERTYMEASURING POVERTYMILKNATIONAL ACCOUNTSNATIONAL POVERTYPER CAPITA EXPENDITUREPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY CHANGEPOLICY CHANGESPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL INFLUENCEPOORPOOR COUNTRIESPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPOVERTY ASSESSMENTSPOVERTY DATAPOVERTY DEBATEPOVERTY DECLINEPOVERTY ESTIMATESPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY MONITORING SYSTEMPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONRATE OF RETURNREDUCED POVERTYREDUCING POVERTYREDUCTION IN POVERTYREGIONAL PERSPECTIVERETURNSRICH COUNTRIESRURALRURAL AREASRURAL CONSUMERRURAL HEADCOUNTRURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL POORRURAL POOR PEOPLERURAL POPULATIONRURAL POVERTYRURAL POVERTY LINESSOCIAL PROTECTIONSTOCKSUNEMPLOYMENTURBAN AREASURBAN POVERTYVEGETABLESVULNERABLE GROUPSWAGE RATESJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/16403