Publication Details

Tackling Poverty through Panel Data: Rural Poverty in India 1970-1998

Shashanka Bhide
Aasha Kapur Mehta
2005

Abstract

The distinction between transitory and chronic poverty has been highlighted in the research conducted by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre. While estimates of the incidence of poverty obtained from sample based studies provide insights into the prevalence of poverty and its severity at a point of time, estimates of persistence of poverty need to be examined through use of a panel data set. In this paper we report some of the findings from analysis of extension of the earlier two-wave panel data set for the years 1970-71 and 1981-82 to a third wave for 1998-99. We therefore have three points at which data was collected for the same households, i.e., the years 1970-71, 1981-82 and 1998-99. The question of how persistent is poverty is important, because policies to alleviate transitory poverty may not be effective in addressing chronic or persistent poverty. Persistence of poverty suggests that there is failure of the economic system in integrating different sections of society in the growth process. The purpose of this paper is descriptive. We examine the extent of persistence of poverty in rural India based on the 3 surveys conducted by NCAER to track the same households over the period from 1970-71 and 1998-99.

Publication Type(s)

CPRC India Working Paper

Keywords

poverty dynamics India data panel data

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