Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Household Vulnerability to Poverty in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands 1
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | McDonald, Lachlan |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | Melanesian countries such as Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands are renowned for their vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks. Equally, analyses of household vulnerability are becoming a mainstay of the development economics literature. Yet little empirical work has been done that examines the extent to which Melanesia’s exposure to risks at a national level affects the vulnerability of households to experiencing poverty. This paper addresses the gap by using cross-sectional data from a survey that was specifically designed to capture information on households’ characteristics, their experience of shocks and their responses to shocks during an extremely cyclical phase in the global economy. Unlike conventional studies of household vulnerability, it calculates households’ probability of experiencing a broad, non-monetary, characterisation of poverty: the multidimensional poverty index, given the inherent limitations on relying solely on monetary metrics of wellbeing in Melanesia. It shows that while poverty and vulnerability are linked, the incidence of vulnerability is typically more widespread than the observed rate of poverty. This confirms the results of vulnerability analyses in other developing country contexts that while poverty is an essential indicator of wellbeing, it provides limited foresight into future poverty. Moreover, around three quarters of the total estimated vulnerability in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands stems from excess volatility in expected wellbeing, rather than inordinately low levels of wellbeing. Being wealthier (both in a conventional sense and in terms of traditional Melanesian artefacts of wealth), better educated and employed also reduces a household’s vulnerability. This ability to distinguish between different types of vulnerability, as well as understanding the key aspects of households’ resilience, makes such analyses critical for guiding policymakers interested in poverty prevention in Melanesia. 1 This paper is part of a broader research project investigating the vulnerability and resilience of Pacific Island households to the effects of macroeconomic shocks. It is sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through an Australian Development Research Award (ADRA) |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/events/adew-2013/papers/McDonald,L_E2.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
