Abstract

This report, a background note for the South Africa Systematic Country Diagnostic, documents public transport accessibility, focusing particularly on minibus taxis and on poor households, and describe the costs of commuting to work, using the 2013 National Household Travel Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. It also explains how the minibus taxi industry works, based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2013 and 2017 in the minibus taxi industry, and what this implies for costs and accessibility of minibuses to users. It analyzes publicly available data on fatal crashes and police data on violence to describes the risks to users of public transport from fatal crashes and also taxi violence. It also suggest some policy options to improve transport outcomes for the poor. Document type: Book

Abstract

This paper reviews methods that have been employed to estimate poverty in contexts where household consumption data are unavailable or missing. These contexts range from completely missing and partially missing consumption data in cross-sectional household surveys, to missing panel household data. The paper focuses on methods that aim to compare trends and dynamic patterns of poverty outcomes over time. It presents the various methods under a common framework, with pedagogical discussion on the intuition. Empirical illustrations are provided using several rounds of household survey data from Vietnam. Furthermore, the paper provides a practical guide with detailed instructions on computer programs that can be used to implement the reviewed techniques. Document type: Book