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SÉRIE ÉTUDES ET DOCUMENTS
Proxy
Means Testing vulnerability to measurement errors?
Jules Gazeaud
Études et Documents n° 12
October 2018
To cite this document:
Gazeaud J. (2018) “Proxy Means Testing vulnerability to measurement errors? ”, Études
et Documents, n° 12, CERDI. CERDI PÔLE TERTIAIRE 26 AVENUE LÉON BLUM F- 63000 CLERMONT FERRAND TEL.+33473177400 FAX +33473177428 http://cerdi.uca.fr/
Études et Documents n° 12, CERDI, 2018
2 The author
Jules Gazeaud
PhD Student in Economics - École d’économie and Centre d’études et de recherches sur le développement international (CERDI), CNRS - Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Email address: jules.gazeaud@etu.uca.fr
This work was supported by the LABEX IDGM+ (ANR-10-LABX-14-01) within the program “Investissements d’Avenir” operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Études et Documents are available online at: https://cerdi.uca.fr/etudes-et-documents/
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Publisher: Mariannick Cornec ISSN: 2114 - 7957
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Études et Documents is a working papers series. Working Papers are not refereed, they constitute
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Études et Documents n° 12, CERDI, 2018
3 Abstract
Proxy Means Testing (PMT) is a popular method to target the poor in developing countries. PMT usually relies on survey-based consumption data and assumes they are measured with random errors – an assumption that has been challenged by recent literature. This paper brings causal evidence on the impact of non-random errors on PMT performances. Using a survey experiment conducted in Tanzania in which eight alternative consumption questionnaires were randomly distributed across households, I compare the performances of PMT relying on error-prone consumption data with those of a PMT using gold standard consumption data. Results show that non-random errors reduce the predictive performances of PMT by a magnitude ranging from 5 to 27 percent, which in turn induce a 10 to 34 percent increase in the incidence of targeting errors (using the typical PPP $1.25 poverty line). Impacts on the relative distribution of households are nonetheless small and non-significant.
Keywords
Social protection, Targeting, Proxy Means Testing (PMT), Measurement errors.
JEL Codes
I32, I38, O12, O20.
Acknowledgments
This research benefited from the financial support of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche of the French government through the program “Investissement d’Avenir” (ANR-10-LABX-14-01). I thank Catherine Araujo Bonjean and Vianney Dequiedt for their guidance and support. This paper has benefited from the thoughts of Johanna Choumert, John Gibson, Zaneta Kubik, Linden McBride, Fouzi Mourji, and William Seitz, as well as audiences at the Journées doctorales du développement (Clermont-Ferrand, December 2017) and CSAE Conference (Oxford, March 2018). I am especially grateful to Joachim De Weerdt for sharing the data underlying this research. The usual disclaimers apply.
