The global consumption and income database: material living standards within and across countries over 50 years

On 12 February 2014, Sanjay Reddy, Associate Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, made an inaugural presentation of a new database on material living standards within and across countries for the past 50 years, developed through joint research with Arjun Jayadev of Boston University and Rahul Lahoti, an independent scholar on inequality, poverty and gender.

The database covers income and consumption and allows the calculation of poverty incidence, income and consumption inequality and the measurement of levels of well-being based on consumption and income profiles. The steps taken to compile the data, standardize the distributions, estimate the means of the dataset and addressing missing data were explained. The dataset presently covers 148 countries and has numerous potential applications, including for example the study of the evolution of absolute and relative living standards, or tracing whether growth has been inclusive over time. The Development Policy Seminar was attended by analysts from across DESA, academics from New School and New York University and staff of some Member States representations (Finland and Argentina).