Poverty dynamics in Costa Rica with panel data from cross-sections

A n analysis of the dynamics of poverty requires longitudinal data.
In Costa Rica, as in most Latin American countries, such data are
unavailable. In order to examine the dynamic aspects of poverty, this
article uses cross-sectional information to develop a set of panel data.
Given a stable macroeconomic environment and a constant poverty rate,
these data show that the poor households studied over a three-year
period were not always made up of the same units, as significant turnover
rates were found to exist between the poor and the non-poor.