Recovering Comparable Poverty Estimates in Cote d’Ivoire

Recent studies on Côte d'Ivoire show a four-fold increase in poverty rates between 1985 and 2008. However, multiple revisions in the survey design questions the validity of the Ivorian poverty trend. In this paper, we follow two simple steps to recover the comparable poverty trend. First, we construct a common consumption basket over time. Second, we follow a two-stage method of moments framework (Tarozzi, 2007) to re-estimate poverty headcounts. On average, the adjusted trend shows a two percentage point difference in poverty rates from 1985 to 2008. A number of robustness checks provide robust support to this revised poverty trend.