CENSUS MAPS OF CRITICAL DEFICIENCIES IN THE 2000 ROUND:

OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW PROPOSALS

Abstract

During the 1980s, in Latin America the exploitation of census data was extended to develop maps of critical gaps. In this sense, the methodology played a preponderant role of Unsatisfied Basic Needs that was based on data available in the censuses of population and housing.
In the mid-nineties, there was a balance of the virtues and limitations of these maps census of critical deficiencies. The balance was the beneficial recognition of the generation of a large volume of information at a relatively low cost. But it was noted that the potential of censuses was less than that of specific surveys to capture the new poverty
emerging in the 1980s and that those maps lacked sensitivity for recognition
of the heterogeneity of poverty. In the 2000 census round, there were different responses to address the preparation of maps of critical deficiencies. The limitations of the UBN method and the new reality had already been marked questioned its structural character and its measure of incidence. some organisms Officials reproduced the UBN methodology, preserving the more traditional proposal. In others cases, it was decided to introduce variants although they did not save questionable aspects of the methodology since they interpreted the amount of deficiencies or they were minor variants
(changes in the definition of indicators or thresholds). A methodological alternative that became widespread in the 1990s was the estimation of poverty by income from multivariate regression models designed with surveys comparable to those
population censuses. This option made it possible to establish new indicators (such as gap, inequality, severity) and greater conceptual clarity regarding the definition of thresholds, while
that gave rise to recognizing conjunctural forms of deprivation that were not identified by the traditional method. On the other hand, some limitations of the census data source remained, such as the absence of variables most predictive of income and ten-year periodicity. Another important shortcoming is found in the classification of areas before households since it is not possible to combine it directly with the traditional method. While in Argentina a new methodology embodied in the IPMH was proposed. Yes ok takes up the tradition of NBI (especially for its application to homes) it distances itself from that since recognizes the heterogeneity of the poor. Likewise, it transcends the classification of situations through a series of aggregation measures that complement the incidence.