1. Estimating Income / Expenditure Differences across Populations: New Fun with Old Engel's Law
- Author:
- Lant Pritchett and Marla Spivack
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- How much larger are the consumption possibilities of an urban US household with per capita expenditures of 1,000 US dollars per month than a rural Indonesian household with per capita expenditures of 1,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah per month? Consumers in different markets face widely different consumption possibilities and prices and hence the conversion of incomes or expenditures to truly comparable units of purchasing power is extremely difficult. We propose a simple supplement to existing purchasing power adjusted currency conversions.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Political Economy, Political Theory, Social Stratification, and Socialism/Marxism
- Political Geography:
- United States and Southeast Asia