Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?

Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data. In some countries (notably China and India), national statistics agencies are reluctant, for reasons of confidentiality, to release household‐level census data, but they ar...

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Main Authors: Minot, Nicholas, Baulch, Bob
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172332
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author Minot, Nicholas
Baulch, Bob
author_browse Baulch, Bob
Minot, Nicholas
author_facet Minot, Nicholas
Baulch, Bob
author_sort Minot, Nicholas
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data. In some countries (notably China and India), national statistics agencies are reluctant, for reasons of confidentiality, to release household‐level census data, but they are generally more willing to release aggregated census data, such as village‐ or district‐level means. This paper examines the loss in precision associated with using aggregated census data instead of household‐level data to generate poverty estimates. The authors show analytically that using aggregated census data will result in poverty rates that are biased downward (upward) if the rate is below (above) 50%, and that the bias approaches zero as the poverty rate approaches zero, 50%, and 100%. Using data from Vietnam, it is found that the mean absolute error in estimating district‐level poverty rates is 2.5 percentage points if the census data are aggregated to the enumeration‐area level means, and 3–4 percentage points if the data are aggregated to commune or district level. Finally, the authors propose a method for reducing the error using variances calculated from the census. When this approach is applied to the Vietnam data, this method can cut the size of the aggregation errors by around 75%.
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spelling CGSpace1723322025-02-19T14:06:47Z Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision? Minot, Nicholas Baulch, Bob poverty research censuses Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data. In some countries (notably China and India), national statistics agencies are reluctant, for reasons of confidentiality, to release household‐level census data, but they are generally more willing to release aggregated census data, such as village‐ or district‐level means. This paper examines the loss in precision associated with using aggregated census data instead of household‐level data to generate poverty estimates. The authors show analytically that using aggregated census data will result in poverty rates that are biased downward (upward) if the rate is below (above) 50%, and that the bias approaches zero as the poverty rate approaches zero, 50%, and 100%. Using data from Vietnam, it is found that the mean absolute error in estimating district‐level poverty rates is 2.5 percentage points if the census data are aggregated to the enumeration‐area level means, and 3–4 percentage points if the data are aggregated to commune or district level. Finally, the authors propose a method for reducing the error using variances calculated from the census. When this approach is applied to the Vietnam data, this method can cut the size of the aggregation errors by around 75%. 2005-02 2025-01-29T12:59:48Z 2025-01-29T12:59:48Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172332 en Limited Access Wiley Minot, Nicholas; Baulch, Bob. 2005. Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision? Review of Development Economics 9(1): 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2005.00261.x
spellingShingle poverty
research
censuses
Minot, Nicholas
Baulch, Bob
Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title_full Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title_fullStr Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title_full_unstemmed Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title_short Poverty mapping with aggregate census data: what is the loss in precision?
title_sort poverty mapping with aggregate census data what is the loss in precision
topic poverty
research
censuses
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/172332
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