A Behaviour-based Approach to the Estimation of Poverty in India

Ingvild Almås, Anders Kjelsrud and Rohini Somanathan

No 4122, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Since the late 1970s, the price indices underlying the poverty lines in India have been updated using aggregate indices. Widespread criticism of these indices led to the adoption of a new official methodology in 2011 based on unit values from consumption survey data. We propose an alternative approach that identifies poverty from consumer behaviour, based on the notion that equally poor households spend the same proportion of their incomes on food. Compared with official estimates, we find higher levels of poverty in eastern India, and generally, smaller reductions in poverty from 2005 to 2010. Our poverty numbers are validated by the calorie composition of households around the poverty lines and self-reported hunger.

JEL-codes: D10 E31 F01 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp4122.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: A Behavior‐Based Approach to the Estimation of Poverty in India (2019)
Working Paper: A Behaviour-based Approach to the Estimation of Poverty in India (2015)
Working Paper: A BEHAVIOUR-BASED APPROACH TO THE ESTIMATION OF POVERTY IN INDIA (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4122

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klaus Wohlrabe (wohlrabe@ifo.de).