The thesis has considered an asset-based alternative to the conventional use of
consumption or expenditure in defining well-being and poverty. The motivation for the
study was to derive a measure of economic status by households in the absence of income
or consumption data. This is particularly important for a country like Tanzania where
consumption, expenditure and price data are either limited or unavailable. The thesis
uses data from The Tanzania 2002 Population and Housing Census information on
housing conditions and ownership of certain durable goods to construct an asset index.
This index is a proxy for long-run household wealth. When tested for reliability the asset
index was found to be robust, coherent and a good predictor for economic status among
the "poor" and "non-poor". The study has revealed that with further research, poverty
analysts in Tanzania may also use the household asset index as an explanatory or as a
means of mapping welfare in the country. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/2318 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Ruyobya, Irenius Joseph. |
| Contributors | May, Julian Douglas. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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