KRISLERT SAMPHANTHARAK and ROBERT M. TOWNSEND, Households as Corporate Firms: An Analysis of Household Finance Using Integrated Household Surveys and Corporate Financial Accounting, Econometric Society Monographs (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19582-9, pp. xii, 199).
This Econometric Society monograph is a result of over ten years of research by the authors on household finance in developing countries. They lay out the basic approach and build on and use the promulgated financial accounting standards for the corporate world (private sector) to construct three primary financial statements for households. These statements—the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows—use panel data from integrated household surveys in developing countries. The objective of this study is to develop a conceptual framework that will help researchers define and efficiently measure household productivity, risk, liquidity management, and other financial situations that families encounter. These household surveys are essential, as they enhance researchers'...
