Estimation of Purchasing Power Parities for Regional and Global Poverty Measurement
Prasada Rao, University of Queensland, School of Economics, Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis
The presentation focuses on the estimation of regional and global poverty measurement using $1-a-day and $2-a-day international poverty lines using purchasing power parities of currencies. The current World Bank practice of converting international poverty lines using purchasing power parities (PPPs) from the International Comparison Program (ICP) has attracted considerable criticism as the PPPs do not reflect adequately reflect relative price level differences of prices of goods and services that are typically consumed by the poor and the weights used in the PPP calculation do no adequately represent the consumption patterns of the poor. The presentation outlines a new and improved framework for the compilation of PPPs for regional and global poverty measurement and presents results based on data collected for 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The methodology used in the calibration of international poverty lines will also be discussed. Some preliminary estimates of poverty in the Asia-Pacific region will be presented.
The seminar will be based on the paper prepared by the author for the Asian Development Bank (URL: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Poverty-Purchasing-Power-Parities/)
About the speaker
D.S. Prasada Rao is a Director of Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis and a Professor at School of Economics at the University of Queensland. Prior to appointment at UQ, he held a Personal chair at the University of New England. In 1997 he was a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia. He was the Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute. He is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Productivity Analysis, Editorial Board of the Review of Income and Wealth. Since 2003 Professor Rao is a Member of the Technical Advisory Group for the International Comparison Program and Poverty Advisory Group, DECDG, at the World Bank, 2003-2008. He holds M.A in Economics from Andhra University, India; and PhD in Econometrics from Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India
Venue: Auditorium 0.009, Maastricht School of Governance, Kapoenstraat 2, 6211 KW Maastricht
Date: 16 October 2008
Time: 16:00 - 17:30 CET
