Estimates of average per capita consumption and income from national accounts differ substantially from corresponding measures of consumption and income from household surveys. Using a new compilation of more than 2,000 household surveys matched to national accounts data, this study finds that the gaps between the data sources are larger and more robust than previously established. Means of household consumption estimated from surveys are, on average, 20 percent lower than corresponding means from national accounts. The gap with gross domestic product per capita is nearly 50 percent. The gaps have increased in recent decades and are largest in middle-income countries, where annualized growth rates for consumption surveys are systematically lower than national accounts growth rates. The paper shows that the gaps in measures across these two sources have implications for assessments of economic growth, poverty, and inequality. The study finds that typical survey measures of consumption and income may exaggerate poverty reduction and underestimate inequality.
Authors
- Collection(s)
- Policy Research Working Papers
- DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-9779
- Googlescholar linkpresent
- yes
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 090224b0889cf91d_1_0
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 33434375
- Published in
- United States of America
- RelationisPartofseries
- Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9779
- Report
- WPS9779
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
- UNIT
- Development Data Group, Development Economics
- URI
- http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36306
- citation
- “Prydz, Espen Beer; Jolliffe, Dean; Serajuddin, Umar. 2021. Mind the Gap : Disparities in Assessments of Living Standards Using National Accounts and Household Surveys . Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9779. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36306 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
- date disclosure
- 2021-09-22