Ghana - Socioeconomic Panel Survey: 2009-2010

The Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey is a joint effort between the Economic Growth Centre at Yale University and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), at the University of Ghana (Legon, Ghana). The survey is meant to remedy a major constraint on the understanding of development in low-income countries the absence of detailed, multi-level and long-term scientific data that follows individuals over time and describes both the natural and man-made environment in which the individuals reside. Most data collection efforts are short-term carried out at one point in time; and limited in scope – collecting information on only a few aspects of the lives of the persons in the study; and when there are multiple rounds of data collection, individuals who leave the study area are dropped. This means that the most mobile people are not included in existing surveys and studies, perhaps substantially biasing inferences about who benefits from and who bears the cost of the development process. The goal of this project is to follow all individuals, or a random subset, over time using a comprehensive set of survey instruments to shed new light on long-run processes of economic development. The 2009 survey is the first in a series that is intended to include 5 surveys over the next 15-21 years. Surveys will be implemented approximately every 3 years. In subsequent waves of the panel, a sample of moved households and individuals who have moved out of original households to form new households or joined other households originally not in the panel sample, will be interviewed in addition to the original sample. The number of households in the Panel Study thus has the potential of increasing due to the nature of the design; tracking wholly moved and split households. The principal objective of the panel survey is to provide a comprehensive data base for carrying out a wide range of studies of the medium- and long-term changes, or lack of changes, that take place during the process of development. The information gathered from the survey is expected to inform decision makers in the formulation of economic and social policies to: Identify target groups for government assistance; Construct models to stimulate the impact on individual groups of the various policy options and to analyze the impact of decisions that have already been implemented; Access the economic situation on living conditions of households; and Provide benchmark data for district assemblies.

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Author Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research; University of Ghana, Economic Growth Center; Yale University
Last Updated May 21, 2020, 11:45 (UTC)
Created March 16, 2020, 11:54 (UTC)
Release Year 2016-01-11 12:17:04