Estimating utility-consistent poverty lines

Channing Arndt and Kenneth Simler

No 189, FCND discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: "The “Cost of Basic Needs” (CBN) approach to drawing consumption-based poverty lines is widely applied and lays credible claim to being the best practice for estimating poverty measures. Unfortunately, a growing mass of evidence indicates that poverty estimates obtained under the CBN approach are often demonstrably utility inconsistent. Here, we introduce an information theoretic approach for estimating utility-consistent poverty lines. An example of the approach is provided for the case of Mozambique. The approach represents a powerful addition to the poverty analyst's tool kit and enhances the attractiveness of the CBN approach for practical poverty measurement problems." Authors' Abstract

Keywords: poverty alleviation; development projects; evaluation; measurement; Mozambique; Southern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Eastern Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Estimating utility-consistent poverty lines (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:fcnddp:189

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