| Summary: | This paper provides an empirical estimation of the distributional impact of inflation on households in South Asia. Two main channels are explored-the consumption basket channel and the income channel-for households in different income deciles in selected countries in South Asia. Using recent household expenditure surveys, the paper constructs detailed consumption expenditure shares and the effective "cost-of-living" inflation for households of different income levels. The analysis finds that due to a substantially larger share of food expenditure, households in lower income deciles experience higher effective inflation when food prices are high, despite a diversification in consumption expenditure over time. The analysis also suggests heterogeneous effects of inflation through the household income channel
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