Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey 2009, Wave 1

The Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey is a joint effort between the Economic Growth Center at Yale University (Wave 1 2009), the Global Poverty Research Lab at Northwestern University (Wave 2 2013) and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research at the University of Ghana. The survey is meant to remedy a major constraint on the understanding of development in low-income countries - the absence of detailed, multi-level and long-term scientific data that follows individuals over time and describes both the natural and built environment in which the individuals reside. Most data collection efforts are short-term - carried out a one point in time; are limited in scope - collecting information on only a few aspects of the lives of the persons in the study; and when there are multiple rounds of data collection, individuals who leave the study area are dropped. This latter means that the most mobile people are not included in existing surveys and studies, perhaps substantially biasing inferences about who benefits from and who bears the cost of the development process. The goal of this survey, which aims to follow all individuals, or a random subset, over time using a comprehensive set of survey instruments is thus to shed new light on long-run processes of economic development.