Poverty Comparisons

Poverty assessments are typically clouded in conceptual and methodological uncertainties. How should living standards be assessed? Is a household survey necessary, and is it a reliable guide? Where should the poverty line be drawn, and does the choice matter? What poverty measure should be used in aggregating data on individual living standards? Does that choice matter? This paper surveys the issues that need to be considered in answering these questions, and discusses a number of new tools of analysis which can greatly facilitate poverty comparisons, recognizing the uncertainties involved. Various applications in poverty assessment and policy evaluation for developing countries are used to show how these methods can be put into practice. Recommendations are made for future applied work.