16th May 2017, from 15.30 to 18
Dipartimento di Economia- Via Silvio d’Amico 77
AULA 3
Better Data for Better Development Policies:
The Living Standards Measurement Study
Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and the
Rome Center for Development Data
Presented by
Dr.Talip Kilic
and
Dr. Alberto Zezza
Rome Center for Development Data, World Bank, Rome
The seminar will present recent advances in household survey data collection
spearheaded by the Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) team at the
World Bank, with a specific focus on the work undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa on
issues related to agricultural and rural development. The LSMS team has recently
opened a Rome-based Center for Development Data (C4D2) to foster collaboration
with Italian institutions and with the Rome-based agencies of the UN.
Better Data for Better Development Policies: The Living Standards Measurement Study Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and the Rome Center for Development Data.
16th May 2017, from 15.30 to 18
Dipartimento di Economia- Via Silvio d’Amico 77 -AULA 3
Presenters: Talip Kilic and Alberto Zezza - Rome Center for Development Data, World Bank, Rome
The seminar will present recent advances in household survey data collection spearheaded by the Living Standard
Measurement Study (LSMS) team at the World Bank, with a specific focus on the work undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa
on issues related to agricultural and rural development. The LSMS team has recently opened a Rome-based Center for
Development Data (C4D2) to foster collaboration with Italian institutions and with the Rome-based agencies of the UN.
Under the LSMS-ISA initiative, and via the activities of C4D2, the World Bank supports countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to
establish systems of multi-topic, panel household surveys with a strong focus on agriculture. The LSMS-ISA project also
promotes advancements in survey methods, including use of new technologies and development of analytical tools to
improve data quality and data access. Since 2009, 19 national panel surveys - all of them open access- have been
produced and disseminated by eight African National Statistical Offices with assistance from the LSMS-ISA program. The
datasets offer an unprecedented wealth of policy relevant information on agriculture and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan
Africa, and a rich set of opportunities for researchers and graduate students.
After an overview of the context and achievements of the LSMS-ISA program, the seminar will delve into how improving
measurement methods can change our understanding of key policy research questions. In particular, the presentation
will focus on two topics: (1) how improving methods for the measurement of land area and of agricultural output can
lead to very different conclusions when it comes to productivity analysis, and (2) how to best collect gender
disaggregated data on agriculture and wealth.
About the speakers
Talip Kilic, a Senior Economist, is part of the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) Program in the Survey Unit of
the Development Data Group. He is an expert in household survey design, implementation and analysis; has been
leading the LSMS-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) program activities in Malawi and Uganda; and oversees
the implementation of the World Bank Methodological Research Agenda on Household Surveys. His recent research
focuses on poverty, agriculture, and gender in low- and middle-income countries; and methodological field experiments
on household survey data collection, with the overall aim of validating scalable, objective approaches to measuring key
development outcomes in household and farm surveys. He has a PhD in Economics from American University, and a
Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Relations from Knox College.
Alberto Zezza is a Senior Economist in the Development Data Group of the World Bank. His research interests are in the
area of agricultural and rural development, rural poverty reduction, food security and migration. He is part of the Living
Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) team, where he focuses specifically on improving the availability and quality of
food consumption and of livestock data in LSMS-type household surveys. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was with
the Agricultural Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). He holds a
Ph.D. in Agricultural and Development Economics from the University of Rome, and a M.A. in Development Economics
from the University of Sussex.
data.wordbank.org
www.worldbank.org/lsms