How useful are integrated household survey data for policy-oriented analysis of poverty?
Author InfoGrootaert, Christiaan Abstract The author reflects on the pros and cons of using integrated household survey data in empirical analysis aimed at providing a quantitative basis for policy decisions affecting welfare, poverty, and the fulfillment of basic needs. The experience examined is that of using four years of data from the Cote d’Ivoire Living Standards Survey (1985-88) to link changes in poverty and welfare to macroeconomic trends. The author groups the lessons learned from this work around four themes. Survey content: when survey data are rich, transparency of methodology is important. It is essential that analysts provide explicit information about how their income and spending aggregates were constructed. These aggregates must be deflated with a regional price index, but prices should be collected separately from household survey data. Data on household spending and basic needs fulfillment are the key information for poverty analysis. Sample size and design: bigger
