De Weerdt, JoachimBeegle, KathleenGibson, JohnFriedman, Jed2012-03-192012-03-192010-12-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3986Consumption expenditure has long been the preferred measure of household living standards. However, accurate measurement is a challenge and household expenditure surveys vary widely across many dimensions, including the level of reporting, the length of the reference period, and the degree of commodity detail. These variations occur both across countries and also over time within countries. There is little current understanding of the implications of such changes for spatially and temporally consistent measurement of household consumption and poverty. A field experiment in Tanzania tests eight alternative methods to measure household consumption on a sample of 4,000 households. There are significant differences between consumption reported by the benchmark personal diary and other diary and recall formats. Under-reporting is particularly relevant in illiterate households and for urban respondents completing household diaries; recall modules measure lower consumption than a personal diary, with larger gaps among poorer households and households with more adult members. Variations in reporting accuracy by household characteristics are also discussed and differences in measured poverty as a result of survey design are explored. The study concludes with recommendations for methods of survey based consumption measurement in low-income countries.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE POVERTY LINEAGGREGATE MEASUREAGGREGATE POVERTYASSESSING WELFAREASSET WEALTHCASE STUDYCHANGES IN POVERTYCOMMODITYCONSUMER EXPENDITURE SURVEYCONSUMER EXPENDITURE SURVEYSCONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONSUMPTION AGGREGATECONSUMPTION DATACONSUMPTION DISTRIBUTIONCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION EXPENDITURESCONSUMPTION GOODSCONSUMPTION INFORMATIONCONSUMPTION MEASURECONSUMPTION MEASURESCONSUMPTION MODULESCONSUMPTION POVERTYCONSUMPTION SURVEYSDEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT ISSUESDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHDIETARY DIVERSITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC REVIEWEXPENDITURE DATAEXPENDITURE LEVELFIREWOODFOOD CONSUMPTIONFOOD CONSUMPTION DATAFOOD CONSUMPTION EXPENDITUREFOOD EXPENDITUREFOOD EXPENDITURESFOOD ITEMFOOD ITEMSFUTURE CONSUMPTIONHIGHER INEQUALITYHOUSEHOLD BUDGETHOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEYHOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEYSHOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICHOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICSHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION EXPENDITUREHOUSEHOLD EXPENDITUREHOUSEHOLD HEADHOUSEHOLD HEADSHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LIVING STANDARDSHOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHOUSEHOLD RESOURCESHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHOUSEHOLDSHOUSINGIDIOSYNCRATIC SHOCKSINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME INEQUALITYINDICATORS FOR POVERTYINTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINELEVELS OF CONSUMPTIONLEVELS OF FOOD CONSUMPTIONLIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENTLIVING STANDARDS SURVEYMEAN VALUEMEASURED CONSUMPTIONMEASURED POVERTYMEASURING POVERTYNON-FOOD CONSUMPTIONNON-FOOD EXPENDITURENON-FOOD ITEMSPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPERSONAL CONSUMPTIONPOLICY RESEARCHPOORPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR PERSONSPOORER HOUSEHOLDSPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY COMPARISONSPOVERTY ESTIMATESPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY HEADCOUNT RATEPOVERTY INDICATORPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY STATUSPOVERTY STUDIESPOVERTY ANALYSISRANDOM VARIABLERELATIVE RANKINGSRURALRURAL AREASRURAL COUNTERPARTSRURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL REGIONSSAVINGSSCHOOLINGSEASONAL CONDITIONSSEPARATE POVERTY LINESSTANDARD ERRORSTARGETINGTOTAL CONSUMPTIONTOTAL EXPENDITUREURBAN AREAURBAN AREASURBAN HOUSEHOLDSWELFARE INDICATORSWELFARE MEASUREWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5501