Micro-Level Estimation of Welfare

Elbers, Chris ; Lanjouw, Jean O. ; Lanjouw, Peter

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ANALYSIS OF POVERTY;    ASYMPTOTIC DISTRIBUTION;    AUTOCORRELATION;    BIASES;    CALCULATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2911
RP-ID  :  WPS2911

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors construct and derive theproperties of estimators of welfare that take advantage ofthe detailed information about living standards available insmall household surveys and the comprehensive coverage of acensus or large sample. By combining the strengths of each,the estimators can be used at a remarkably disaggregatedlevel. They have a clear interpretation, are mutuallycomparable, and can be assessed for reliability usingstandard statistical theory. Using data from Ecuador, theauthors obtain estimates of welfare measures, some of whichare quite reliable for populations as small as 15,000households--a "town." They provide simpleillustrations of their use. Such estimates open up thepossibility of testing, at a more convincing intra-countrylevel, the many recent models relating welfare distributionsto growth and a variety of socioeconomic and political outcomes.