Many otherwise successful social programs have limited outreach among the very poor. We show how a recently developed nonparametric test can detect this pattern of program participation. We apply the test to data on participation in a microcredit program in India and do find participation...

We discuss nonparametric methods and statistical tests that are appropriate to assess poverty targeting in public programs. These methods explicitly account for the possibility that the population distributions of participants and non-participants cross. Crossing points provide us with upper...

Very poor households may be excluded from public programs intended for their benefit for a variety of reasons as lack information, a permanent residence or membershiip in social networks. We are interested in methods of testing for such exclusion based on independently drawn samples of program...

Many popular social programs have limited coverage among households at the very bottom of the income and wealth distribution. If a program reaches the poor, but neglects the destitute, the (pre-program) income distribution of participants and non-participants will cross. We are interested in the...