Working Papers

Estimating Poverty and Inequality in the Absence of Consumption Data: An Application to the Middle East and North Africa

No.

1100

Date

May, 2017

Topic

D6. Welfare Economics

I3. Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

Measures of consumption and poverty are critical metrics of the wellbeing of individuals, their households, communities, and countries. Collecting data on consumption and poverty is challenging and costly, and therefore these measures are only infrequently available in survey data. In this paper, we demonstrate how information commonly available in household surveys can be used to impute consumption, even recovering the original variance, which is crucial for assessments of poverty and inequality. Our application adds consumption estimates to the publicly available Labor Market Panel Surveys for Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, which can act as a valuable resource for researchers interested in the intersection of inequality, poverty, and a host of labor market behaviors in the Middle East and North Africa.

ملخص

تعتبر مقاييس الاستهلاك والفقر مقاييس هامة لرفاهية الأفراد وأسرهم ومجتمعاتهم المحلية وبلدانهم. ويعد جمع البيانات عن الاستهلاك والفقر أمرا صعبا ومكلفا، ومن ثم لا تتوفر هذه التدابير إلا في بيانات الاستقصاء. وفي هذه الورقة، نبين كيف يمكن استخدام المعلومات المتاحة عادة في مسوحات الأسر المعيشية في إهلاك الاستهلاك، بل وحتى استعادة التباين الأصلي، وهو أمر بالغ الأهمية لتقييم الفقر وعدم المساواة. يضيف طلبنا تقديرات الاستهلاك إلى استطلاعات الرأي العام لسوق العمل في مصر والأردن وتونس، والتي يمكن أن تكون مصدرا قيما للباحثين المهتمين بالتقاطع بين عدم المساواة والفقر ومجموعة من سلوكيات سوق العمل في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا

Estimating Poverty and Inequality in the Absence of Consumption Data: An Application to the Middle East and North Africa

Authors

Caroline Krafft

Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs,...

Estimating Poverty and Inequality in the Absence of Consumption Data: An Application to the Middle East and North Africa

Research Fellows

Ragui Assaad

Professor and Freeman Chair for International Economic...

Estimating Poverty and Inequality in the Absence of Consumption Data: An Application to the Middle East and North Africa

Research Fellows

Hanan Nazier

Professor, Faculty of Economics and Political Science,...

Estimating Poverty and Inequality in the Absence of Consumption Data: An Application to the Middle East and North Africa

Research Fellows

Racha Ramadan

Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics and Political...