The Insights and Illusions of Consumption Measurements

Erich Battistin (), Michele De Nadai and Nandini Krishnan

No 9255, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Although household well-being is anchored in long-term average rates of consumption, welfare comparisons typically rely on shorter-duration survey measurements. This paper develops a new strategy to identify the distribution of these long-term rates by leveraging a large-scale randomization that elicited repeated short-duration measurements from diaries and recall questions. Identification stems from diary-recall differences in reports from the same household, does not require these reports to be error-free, and hinges on a research design with broad replicability. This strategy delivers cost-effective suggestions for designing survey modules to yield the most accurate measurements of consumption well-being, and offers new insights for interpreting and reconciling diary-recall differences in household expenditure surveys.

Keywords: Inequality; Demographics; Educational Sciences; Crime and Society; Labor&Employment Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-05-21
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Insights and Illusions of Consumption Measurements (2020)
Working Paper: The Insights and Illusions of Consumption Measurements (2020)
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