Lahore School and World Bank Brainstorming Session on Poverty Measurement
April 24, 2015
The Lahore School of Economics and the World Bank jointly organized a brainstorming session on poverty measurement and policy at the Main Campus on 17 April 2015. The session was intended to get an open discussion going on issues in the measurement of poverty, and its implications for policy, and to facilitate the formation of an independent expert group to guide the process of arriving at a credible methodology and process for measuring and monitoring poverty.
Opening comments were made by Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, Rector, Lahore School of Economics; Mr. Asif Bajwa, Chief Statistician, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics; and Dr. Naeemuz Zafar, Ministry of Planning Development and Reform. Following that, Dr. Ghazala Mansuri, Lead Research Economist at The World Bank gave a presentation on “Poverty debate in Pakistan: What accounts for the disconnect between the data and perceptions?” This raised issues for discussion on lack of confidence in the quality of official surveys such as the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) and the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), lack of confidence in the official consumer price index as a measure of inflation faced by the poor, especially in rural areas, concerns about the basket of goods and the calorie threshold used for estimating the poverty line, and the method used for tracking trends.
In response to Dr. Mansuri’s presentation, Dr. Naved Hamid, Professor and Director, Center for Research in Economics and Business (CREB), Lahore School of Economics, moderated the discussion that welcomed expert opinion and recommendations from distinguished poverty experts, academics and policy makers.
The debate aimed at aiding the process of initiating a joint effort by the Planning Commission, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank, in establishing an independent expert group of highly credible academics and researchers.
Labels: Pakistan, Pakistan Economy, Research, World Bank
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 4/24/2015 09:18:00 AM,
City Campus
104 - C, Gulberg III,
Lahore, Pakistan.
Phones: 92-42-35714936, 38474385
Fax: 92-42-36560905
Main Campus
Intersection Main Boulevard Phase VI
Burki Road
Lahore, Pakistan.
Phones: 36560935, 36560939
