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Tracking the Cost of Living, for Whom and at What Price?

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  • Florent Bédécarrats

    (SOURCE - SOUtenabilité et RésilienCE - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - IRD [France-Nord] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement)

  • Flore Dazet

    (EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales)

  • Isabelle Guérin

    (CESSMA UMRD 245 - Centre d'études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Inalco - Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Mireille Razafindrakoto

    (LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • François Roubaud

    (LEDA-DIAL - Développement, Institutions et Modialisation - LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper studies the production and meaning of price indicators in Madagascar, a post-colonial context characterized by a weak state, the prominence of international aid, and repeated food crises. We observe a profusion of indicators, data, and analyses related to prices. Such profusion illustrates not only different meanings of the cost of living but also fragmented economies and a fragmented mode of government in which NGOs and international organizations play a leading role. Whatever their efforts, these initiatives struggle to capture the specific features of the cost of living in a context where the subsistence economy remains hardly convertible into numbers. Our analysis confirms the close links between statistical production and modes of government. The Malagasy Consumer Price Index coexists with many disparate initiatives aimed at coping with inequalities and emergencies, reflecting a country in the throes of repeated political, economic and social crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Florent Bédécarrats & Flore Dazet & Isabelle Guérin & Mireille Razafindrakoto & François Roubaud, 2023. "Tracking the Cost of Living, for Whom and at What Price?," Post-Print hal-04236884, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04236884
    DOI: 10.1177/02685809231202412
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04236884
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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