J. Hentschel et al., Combining census and survey data to trace the spatial dimensions of poverty: A case study of Ecuador, WORLD BAN E, 14(1), 2000, pp. 147-165
Poverty maps provide information on the spatial distribution of living stan
dards. They are an important tool for policymakers, who rely on them to all
ocate transfers and inform policy design. Poverty maps are also an importan
t tool for researchers, who use them to investigate the relationship betwee
n distribution within a country and growth or other economic, environmental
, or social outcomes. A major impediment to the development of poverty maps
has been that needed data on income or consumption typically are available
only from relatively small surveys. Census data have the required sample s
ize brit generally do not have the required information. This article uses
the case of Ecuador to demonstrate how sample survey data can be combined w
ith census data to yield predicted poverty rates for the population covered
by the census. These poverty rates are found to be precisely measured, eve
n at fairly disaggregated levels. However, beyond a certain level of spatia
l disaggregation, standard errors rise vapidly.