OLS models are the predominant choice for poverty predictions in a variety of contexts such as proxy-means tests …, poverty mapping or cross-survey imputations. This paper compares the performance of econometric and machine learning models in … predicting poverty using alternative objective functions and stochastic dominance analysis based on coverage curves. It finds …

Poverty prediction models are used by economists to address missing data issues in a variety of contexts such as … poverty profiling, targeting with proxy-means tests, cross-survey imputations such as poverty mapping, or vulnerability … models to predict poverty under these different scenarios. It finds that the quality of predictions and the choice of the …