Graduating the Ultra Poor in Ghana (Study Summary)

Abhijit Banerjee, Dean Karlan, Esther Duflo, Robert Osei, Bram Thuysbaert, Christopher Udry, Nathanael Goldberg, Jeremy Shapiro, William Parienté, and Hannah Trachtman

ABSTRACT

In Ghana, researchers partnered with implementing organizations Innovations for Poverty Action and Presbyterian Agricultural Services (PAS). The study took place in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana, a region that is disproportionately poorer than the coastal south. Fifty-three percent of households in the study were living on US$1.25 a day or less when the study began in 2011, compared to 29 percent in Ghana as a whole. To select the poorest members of the communities, the project team conducted a Participatory Wealth Ranking, in which villagers collectively ranked households according to their wealth during a community meeting. PAS conducted a short survey afterwards to verify the results of the ranking.