Measuring poverty
Poverty measurement and analysis
Guide to generating and analysing data on poverty for decision makers
Authors:
A. Coudouel; J. S. Hentschel; Q. T. Wodon
Publisher:
Poverty Reduction Strategies and PRSPs, PovertyNet, World Bank, 2002
This chapter, aimed at policy makers, offers a primer on poverty, inequality, and vulnerability analysis from the World Bank. The authors take a broad look at tools for analysis and provide a brief introduction to each topic. They go on to outline why certain information is essential in policymaking and how this information can be generated. The chapter includes a guide to resources on poverty analysis.
The authors argue that the richest understanding of income poverty can be gained if several rounds of multi-topic household surveys are present, especially if they contain a panel component of identical households being visited at different points in time. Income poverty can then be complemented with an examination of other dimensions of poverty and how the dimensions are related to each other. For example, health poverty analysis of the determinants of malnutrition often reveals that a mother's education is a key determinant of the nutritional status of her children. The chapter recommends that determinants of different dimensions of poverty should be compared and common factors singled out for policy interventions [adapted from author].
