The value of panel data in chronic poverty analysis. Chronic Poverty Policy Brief No. 23.

Abstract

This policy brief discusses the following key points:

Panel (longitudinal) data is central to obtaining a better understanding of poverty dynamics and the persistence of poverty, and in informing the effective design, targeting, and implementation of anti-poverty policies.
Panel data provide insights into the effects of economic and anti-poverty policies, and political changes on individuals, households, and groups over time. It can thereby enable the monitoring and robust evaluation of policy.
Panel data can help policy makers identify the policies which facilitate escapes from poverty.
Panel data can deepen our understanding of vulnerability and risk, and of the multidimensionality and inter-generational transmission of poverty.
One of the frontiers of poverty research is how to make analysis of the dynamics of poverty and well-being more multi-dimensional. Integrating and sequencing life history and other qualitative methods within quantitative panel surveys provides a promising way to do this.

Chronic Poverty Research Centre, London, UK. CPRC Policy Brief 23, 6 pp.

Published 1 January 2011

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