Are we counting all the poor? Accounting for the intra-household allocation of consumption in Burundi

Marion Mercier and Philip Verwimp

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Abstract: Having accurate poverty statistics is of primary importance for researchers and policy-makers. Based on original data on Burundi, we investigate the sensitivity of poverty headcount calculations to considering individual- instead of household-level consumption. Relying on a survey module which provides information on the share of expenses allocated to each member of the households, we calculate poverty statutes on an individual basis. Exploiting these direct measures to compute poverty headcounts allows us to put forward the discrepancy between individual- and household-level poverty computations. We identify "hidden poor," i.e. poor individuals living in non-poor households, and show that they are predominantly children. We finally discuss potential mechanisms that could drive the results, and emphasize the importance of improving data collection devices for poverty-related policy making.

Keywords: Poverty measurement; intra-household allocation; Burundi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published in Journal of Demographic Economics, 2017, 83 (03), ⟨10.1017/dem.2017.12⟩

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Journal Article: Are we Counting all the Poor ? Accounting for the Intra-Household Allocation of Consumption in Burundi (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01726261

DOI: 10.1017/dem.2017.12

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