Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi

Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty in rural Malawi. This study measures vulnerability to consumption shortfalls and analyzes its sources using a two-period panel of 2,789 households, drawn from...

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Main Authors: Mccarthy, Nancy, Brubaker, Josh, de la Fuente, Alejandro
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26600681/vulnerability-poverty-rural-malawi
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24850
id okr-10986-24850
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-248502021-06-14T10:17:25Z Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi Mccarthy, Nancy Brubaker, Josh de la Fuente, Alejandro poverty vulnerability agricultural risks shocks Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty in rural Malawi. This study measures vulnerability to consumption shortfalls and analyzes its sources using a two-period panel of 2,789 households, drawn from the 2010 Third Integrated Household Survey and the 2013 Integrated Household Panel Survey. The results show that in 2010 two-fifths of all households had a chance of at least 40 percent of falling below the poverty line in the future. The results show that many households in rural Malawi are vulnerable to poverty, although, as with many other studies of rural areas in other countries, much of the vulnerability is caused by chronic poverty. Nonetheless, risks, particularly rainfall and loss of off-farm employment, are also important in explaining why poor households remain poor, and why some non-poor households are more likely to fall into poverty in the next period. Household wealth and agricultural assets can protect households from falling into poverty and reduce the severity of the fall when shocks occur. However, there is little evidence to suggest that other strategies to reduce vulnerability are effective. 2016-08-09T21:26:26Z 2016-08-09T21:26:26Z 2016-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26600681/vulnerability-poverty-rural-malawi http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24850 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7769 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Malawi
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic poverty
vulnerability
agricultural risks
shocks
spellingShingle poverty
vulnerability
agricultural risks
shocks
Mccarthy, Nancy
Brubaker, Josh
de la Fuente, Alejandro
Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
geographic_facet Africa
Malawi
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7769
description Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty in rural Malawi. This study measures vulnerability to consumption shortfalls and analyzes its sources using a two-period panel of 2,789 households, drawn from the 2010 Third Integrated Household Survey and the 2013 Integrated Household Panel Survey. The results show that in 2010 two-fifths of all households had a chance of at least 40 percent of falling below the poverty line in the future. The results show that many households in rural Malawi are vulnerable to poverty, although, as with many other studies of rural areas in other countries, much of the vulnerability is caused by chronic poverty. Nonetheless, risks, particularly rainfall and loss of off-farm employment, are also important in explaining why poor households remain poor, and why some non-poor households are more likely to fall into poverty in the next period. Household wealth and agricultural assets can protect households from falling into poverty and reduce the severity of the fall when shocks occur. However, there is little evidence to suggest that other strategies to reduce vulnerability are effective.
format Working Paper
author Mccarthy, Nancy
Brubaker, Josh
de la Fuente, Alejandro
author_facet Mccarthy, Nancy
Brubaker, Josh
de la Fuente, Alejandro
author_sort Mccarthy, Nancy
title Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
title_short Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
title_full Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
title_fullStr Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
title_sort vulnerability to poverty in rural malawi
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2016
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26600681/vulnerability-poverty-rural-malawi
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24850
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