1MONITORING SYSTEMS FOR POVERTY TRACKING*

The analysis of the micro impacts of macroeconomic adjustment policies is quite new. It developed out of the concern that adjustment policies adopted by governments to correct macroeconomic imbalances have affected various groups in the economy differently. The experience of several countries who have undertaken adjustment policies have indicated that these policies tended to be deflationary and that most of the adjustment costs have been borne by the more vulnerable groups. The predominantly deflationary nature of adjustment policies led to depressed employment and real income resulting to higher poverty incidence. Moreover, some macro policies have direct negative effects on the welfare of these vulnerable groups (Cornia, Jolly and Stewart, 1987). In response to the search for alternative adjustment paths that would minimize the social costs, the Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) Project was conceived. Under Phase I of the MIMAP Project, Lamberte et al (1991) developed a general framework for analyzing the micro impacts of macroeconomic adjustment policies. Their main finding was that there were many studies looking at the impacts of macroeconomic adjustment policies on macro aggregates and also severa