Serajuddin, UmarJolliffe, Dean2015-08-172015-08-172015-07https://hdl.handle.net/10986/22457Poverty estimates based on enumeration from a single point in time form the cornerstone for much of the literature on poverty. Households are typically interviewed once about their consumption or income, and their wellbeing is assessed from their responses. Global estimates of poverty that aggregate poverty counts from all countries implicitly assume that the counts are comparable. This paper illustrates that this assumption of comparability is potentially invalid when households are interviewed multiple times with repeat visits throughout the year. The paper provides an example from Jordan, where the internationally comparable approach of handling the data from repeat visits yields a poverty rate that is 26 percent greater than the rate that is currently reported as the official estimate. The paper also explores alternative definitions of poverty, informed in part by the psychological and biophysical literature on the long-run effects of short-term exposure to poverty or generally adverse environments. This alternative concept of poverty suggests that the prevalence of those who have been affected by poverty in Jordan during 2010 is more than twice as large as the official 2010 estimate of poverty.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOHOUSEHOLD INCOMESLIVING STANDARDSPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPOVERTY LINEECONOMIC GROWTHFAMINESSQUARED POVERTY GAPINCOMEFOOD CONSUMPTIONAVERAGE LEVELPOVERTY INDICESAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONPOVERTY ESTIMATESNATIONAL POVERTY LINEINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSCONSUMPTION DATADEVELOPING COUNTRIESHEALTH INSURANCEHOUSINGNATIONAL POVERTYPOOR PEOPLEPOVERTY GAP INDEXINCOME SUPPORTNATIONAL POVERTY RATEFOOD CONSUMPTION DATAGLOBAL POVERTYSOCIAL PROGRAMSMEASURESPOVERTY MEASURESREGIONPOVERTY REDUCTIONCOPING STRATEGIESECONOMIC ACTIVITYPUBLIC POLICYREDUCTION STRATEGYFOOD BASKETDEFINITIONS OF POVERTYMEASURING POVERTYRURAL HOUSEHOLDSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESDECOMPOSABLE POVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY GAPINCOME INEQUALITYTRANSFERSCHRONIC POVERTYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSBUSINESS CYCLEPUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMSCHANGES IN POVERTYCREDIT PROGRAMSPOVERTY STATISTICSCASH TRANSFERSDECOMPOSABLE POVERTYPOVERTY PROFILEREAL INCOMESUNEMPLOYMENTDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHPOVERTY LINESCONSUMPTIONPOVERTY DATAHUMAN CAPITALPOVERTY COMPARISONSPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTREDUCTION IN POVERTYPOLICY MAKERSCHRONICALLY POORAGGREGATE POVERTYDENSITY FUNCTIONFAMILY INCOMEMEASUREMENT OF POVERTYHEADCOUNT INDEXCATEGORICAL TARGETINGIMPACT OF SHOCKSPOVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGYNUTRITIONHOUSEHOLD BUDGETPUBLIC WORKSSMALL-SCALE AGRICULTUREECONOMICSINSURANCETARGETINGMACROECONOMIC SHOCKSRICH COUNTRIESECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIESCONSUMPTION SMOOTHINGPOOR POPULATIONEXTREME POVERTYPOVERTYHEADCOUNT POVERTYPOLICY IMPLICATIONSHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONPOVERTY UPDATEHOUSEHOLD WELFAREPOLICY RESEARCHPOVERTY RATEPOORFOOD PRICESCHILD POVERTYSQUARED POVERTY GAP INDEXELIGIBILITYDEVELOPMENT POLICYINCOME VOLATILITYINEQUALITYGROWTHPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PERSONWorking PaperWorld Bank10.1596/22457