Publication type
ISER Working Paper Series
Series Number
2007-10
Series
ISER Working Paper Series
Authors
Publication date
May 24, 2007
Abstract:
The paper investigates the role of multi-level structures in poverty analysis based on
household level data. We demonstrate how multi-level models can be applied to
standard poverty analysis and highlight its usefulness in terms of assessing the
extent community characteristics matter in determining poverty status and dynamics.
We provide two applications. The first is an example of a growth model that control
for characteristics measured at the initial time period, and considers directly to what
extent the same characteristics contribute to explain changes in economic wellbeing
over time. In the second application we model the determinants of escaping poverty.
Both applications use longitudinal data from Vietnam recorded at two points in time
during the nineties, a period where Vietnam experienced strong economic growth.
We demonstrate that failing to control for multi-level data structures could give
incorrect inference about the effect of covariates of interest. We also demonstrate
how the multi-level models can be used for regional and community level policy
analysis that otherwise is difficult to implement in more standard regression analysis.
Subjects
Notes
working paper
Paper download#509156