Poverty in African households: the limits of survey and census representations

Sara Randall and Ernestina Coast ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: African poverty statistics depend on household-level measurements from survey data, making the definition of household of critical importance. Detailed case studies from Tanzania and Burkina Faso explore (1) understandings of household membership and ambiguities, and (2) how well survey definitions capture households as economic units, and the implications for household size and responses to and mitigation of poverty. We develop an analytic framework of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ households. ‘Open’ households cope with poverty using flexibility, movement and extra-household networks, but are poorly represented by survey data. Closed households are likely to be better described by survey data.

JEL-codes: N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-02-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published in The Journal of Development Studies, 1, February, 2015, 51(2), pp. 162 - 177. ISSN: 0022-0388

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Related works:
Journal Article: Poverty in African Households: the Limits of Survey and Census Representations (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:59504

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