Calibration estimator for Head Count Index

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of estimating a poverty measure, the Head Count Index, using the auxiliary information available, which is incorporated into the estimation procedure by calibration techniques. The proposed method does not directly use the auxiliary information provided by auxiliary variables related to the variable of interest in the calibration process, but the auxiliary information, after a transformation, is incorporated by calibration techniques applied to the distribution function of the study variable. Monte Carlo experiments were carried out for simulated data and for real data taken from the Spanish living conditions survey to explore the performance of the new estimation methods of the Head Count Index.