Poverty in India During the 1990s: A Regional Perspective

Abstract

Kijima and Lanjouw provide estimates of poverty at the regional level in India spanning the 1990s. Such estimates have not been previously available due to concerns regarding noncomparability of the 1993-94 and 1999-2000 National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) household survey data. They implement an adjustment procedure to restore comparability based on a methodology developed by Elbers and others (2003). The results indicate a less rapid decline of poverty at the all-India level than has been suggested by Deaton and Drèze (2002) based on a related adjustment methodology. The authors attempt to uncover the source of disagreement across these procedures by probing a number of their underlying assumptions.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze poverty in India.