Date & Time
June 11, 2025
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET
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Join us on Wednesday, June 11, for an insightful discussion with Dr. David Lobell, Director of the Stanford Center on Food Security and the Environment, and Dr. Ryan Engstrom, Director of Data Science at George Washington University, on how AI and data integration can help us better measure people’s economic wellbeing.
Accurate measurement of household livelihoods and economic wellbeing is essential for monitoring the effectiveness of efforts to create jobs, expand social assistance coverage, and reduce poverty. Household surveys are the go-to source of the requisite data in low- and middle-income countries, especially for sub-populations that do not otherwise appear in alternative administrative or digital data sources. Yet, survey sample sizes are not sufficient for obtaining reliable estimates at hyperlocal scales, and large-scale surveys are relatively infrequent given their complexity and costs.
The discussion will be based on new research, conducted jointly by the World Bank and Stanford University, with support from the World Bank Knowledge for Change Program, which evaluates alternative approaches to obtaining local estimates of household asset wealth across four African countries, using georeferenced household census extracts that are integrated with publicly available satellite imagery and geospatial data. The results show that transformer-based models, similar to those used in artificial intelligence applications, solve multiple open measurement problems. They provide the most accurate measurement of local-level variation in household asset wealth across countries and cities, as well as changes in household wealth over time.
Experiments that artificially restrict data availability show the model’s ability to achieve high performance with limited data. The proposed approach demonstrates the promise of combining sample surveys, satellite imagery, and artificial intelligence for operational targeting and monitoring, opening new possibilities for evidence-based policymaking.
The event will also feature Haishan Fu, World Bank Group Chief Statistician, as chair and Talip Kilic, Acting Manager and Senior Program Manager at Development Data Group, who will deliver opening remarks.
Join the conversation on the future of granular measurement of economic wellbeing.
The event is sponsored by LSMS – Living Standards Measurement Study.
Dr. David Lobell — Benjamin M. Page Professor, Stanford University
David Lobell is the Benjamin M. Page Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Earth System Science and the Gloria and Richard Kushel Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment. He is also the William Wrigley Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy and Research (SIEPR). Lobell's research focuses on agriculture and food security, specifically on generating and using unique datasets to study rural areas throughout the world.
Dr. Ryan Engstrom — Professor, Director of Data Science, George Washington University
Ryan Engstrom is a Professor of Geography and the Director of the Data Science Program at George Washington University. He is the Director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Research (CUER) and the Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL). His research interests are in using geospatial techniques primarily remote sensing, to understand spatial variations in a wide array of issues including climate change, health, poverty, and population. He has worked in numerous geographic areas including the Arctic, Africa, Asia, and Washington, DC.
Haishan Fu — Chief Statistician & Director, Development Data Group, World Bank Group
Haishan Fu is the World Bank Chief Statistician and Director of the Development Data Group. In her dual role, Haishan leads and coordinates the Bank’s development data agenda. A lifelong advocate for unlocking the power of data to improve lives, Haishan has been at the forefront of the global data discourse as a prominent thought leader, expert advisor, and academic and policy researcher for over three decades.
Talip Kilic — Acting Manager and Senior Program Manager, Development Data Group, World Bank Group
Talip Kilic is the Acting Manager and Senior Program Manager for the World Bank Development Data Group's Living Standards Measurement Unit (DECLS), which houses the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) - the World Bank’s flagship household survey program, and Survey Solutions; the World Bank’s open-source CAPI/CATI/CAWI software platform for design, implementation and management of large-scale surveys and censuses. His research focuses on poverty, agriculture, and labor in low- and middle-income countries, as well as survey methodology and data integration to improve the quality, timeliness, and policy-relevance of household and farm surveys.
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