Targeting the poor beyond Gaza or the West Bank: the geography of poverty in the Palestinian Territories

This paper constructs a detailed poverty map of the West Bank and Gaza, by estimating the incidence of poverty in 132 distinct localities. It derives the estimates by combining econometric analysis of the Palestinian Households Survey with information contained in the Palestinian Census from 1997.

The results suggest that the incidence of poverty indeed differs greatly across localities. This indicates that it may be efficient to base targeting of the poor on the geography of poverty in the West Bank and Gaza. Specifically, this paper shows that geographic targeting compares favourably, in terms of low leakage rates, to targeting mechanisms based on observable characteristics of potential beneficiaries. It also illustrates that targeting efficiency may be further improved by combing the two types of targeting mechanisms.

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