Measuring subjective expectations in developing Countries : a critical review and new evidence, Vol. 1 of 1

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Measuring subjective expectations in developing Countries : a critical review and new evidence

Author:	Delavande, Adeline; Gine, Xavier; McKenzie, David;	Collection Title:	Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 4824
Country:	World;	Date Stored:	2009/01/29
Document Date:	2009/01/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Major Sector:	Finance
Rel. Proj ID:	1W-Program Research Proposal In Finance -- -- P107616;	Region:	The World Region
Report Number:	WPS4824	Sub Sectors:	General finance sector
SubTopics:	Economic Theory & Research; Information Security & Privacy; Debt Markets; ; Statistical & Mathematical Sciences	Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: The majority of economic decisions taken by individuals are forward looking and thus involve their expectations of future outcomes. Understanding the expectations that individuals have is thus of crucial importance to designing and evaluating policies in health, education, finance, migration, social protection, and many other areas. However, the majority of developing country surveys are static in nature and do not contain information on the subjective expectations of individuals. Possible reasons given for not collecting this information include fears that poor, illiterate individuals do not understand probability concepts, that it takes far too much time to ask such questions, or that the answers add little value. This paper provides a critical review and new analysis of subjective expectations data from developing countries and refutes each of these concerns. The authors find that people in developing countries can generally understand and answer probabilistic questions, such questions are not prohibitive in time to ask, and the expectations are useful predictors of future behavior and economic decisions. The paper discusses the different methods being tried for eliciting such information, the key methodological issues involved, and the open research questions. The available evidence suggests that collecting expectations data is both feasible and valuable, suggesting that it should be incorporated into more developing country surveys.


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