Description: Poor, or Just Feeling Poor? On Using Subjective Data in Measuring Poverty

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Poor, or Just Feeling Poor? On Using Subjective Data in Measuring Poverty

The challenges faced in calibrating poverty and welfare measures to objective data have long been recognized. Until recently, most economists have resisted a seemingly obvious solution, namely to ask people themselves: "Do you feel poor?"...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Ravallion, Martin
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINE ACCESS TO SERVICES AGGREGATE POVERTY CHILD MORTALITY CHOICE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS CONSUMER DEMAND CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION POVERTY COST FUNCTIONS CRITERIA DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC INEQUALITY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC STRUCTURE ECONOMIC SURVEYS ECONOMIC THEORIES ECONOMICS ECONOMIES OF SCALE ELASTICITY EMPLOYMENT STATUS EXPECTATIONS FARM PRODUCTS FOOD CONSUMPTION FUNCTIONAL FORMS FUTURE RESEARCH GLOBAL MARKETS GOODS HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD WELFARE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME EFFECT INCOME POVERTY INEQUALITY INFANT MORTALITY INFLUENCE LIFE EXPECTANCY LIVING STANDARDS MALNUTRITION MARKET ECONOMIES MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY MEASURES POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR AREAS POOR COUNTRIES POOR PEOPLE POOR PERSON POORER HOUSEHOLDS POORER PEOPLE POVERTY POVERTY COMPARISONS POVERTY INDEX POVERTY INDICES POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY PROFILE POVERTY RATE POVERTY REDUCTION PRICES PUBLIC GOOD QUALITATIVE DATA QUALITY OF LIFE REAL INCOME RISK AVERSION RURAL RURAL AREAS SCHOOLING SOCIAL FACTORS SOCIAL STATUS THEORY TRADE UNEMPLOYMENT UTILITY UTILITY FUNCTION VALUATION VALUE VARIABLES WEALTH WELFARE ECONOMICS WELFARE LEVEL WELFARE MEASURE WELFARE MEASURES
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120213135845 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3254

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Summary:	The challenges faced in calibrating poverty and welfare measures to objective data have long been recognized. Until recently, most economists have resisted a seemingly obvious solution, namely to ask people themselves: "Do you feel poor?" The paper studies the case for and against this approach. It is argued that, while one would not want to use self-assessments as welfare metrics in their own right, there is scope for using such data to help calibrate multidimensional measures. Indeed, the idea of a "social subjective poverty line" (below which people tend to think they are poor, but above which they do not) is arguably the most conceptually appealing way of defining poverty. However, the paper points to a number of concerns that have received insufficient attention, including the choice of covariates, survey design issues, measurement errors, frame-of-reference effects, and latent heterogeneity in personality traits and personal tradeoffs. Directions for future research are identified.