bundle may be misleadingly attributed to differences in the distribution of welfare.
This paper attempts to address these issues and fill some of the knowledge gaps by examining the levels and determinants of inequality in the distribution of household consumption expenditures. It draws on harmonized micro-data from twenty eight household surveys for 12 Arab countries and combines a descriptive analysis of inequality with an empirical investigation of the sources of within-country regional disparities. The first examines the levels and recent trends in inequality using comparable welfare measures and explores how alternative definitions of consumption expenditures affect the extent of inequality. It also examines the structure of inequality as it relates to the nature of the households within these countries.