Publication

The lack of reliable development statistics for many poor countries has led the UN to call for a “data revolution”. One fairly narrow but widespread interpretation of this revolution is for international aid donors to fund a coordinated wave of household surveys across the developing world, tracking progress on a new round of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. This paper uses data from the International Household Survey Network (IHSN) to show 1) that the supply of household surveys has accelerated dramatically over the past 30 years and that 2) demand for survey data appears to be higher in democracies and more aid-dependent countries.