The implications from the new 2011 PPP benchmarks from the ICP numbers may mean a huge reduction in the poverty head count in the world. Sarah Dykstra, Charles Kenny and Justin Sandefur at the Center for Global Development draw some implications from thethe new numbers here.
Martin Ravillion takes exception to the calculations – the exchange in the comments section is worth reading in full. The World Banks Chief Economist, Kaushik Basu, also felt compelled to explain that it is the role of the World Bank to tell us (eventually in July or so later this year) what it means for poverty, and that other implications drawn from the numbers that does not have the blessing of the Knowledge Bank will until then be referred to as “playing with numbers“.
