Measuring Poverty and Vulnerability in Microfinance
Measuring Poverty and Vulnerability in Microfinance

Author: Olga Torres García

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation explores how to best measure poverty and vulnerability to poverty in microfinance clients in rural areas and provides the results of the test for Angkor Mikroheranhvatho (Kampuchea) (AMK), a microfinance institution operating in rural Cambodia. The objective is to find the best measuring tool available and to adapt it to the rural Cambodian context. Thus, the first section of this dissertation discusses the theoretical framework for rural finance, microfinance, poverty and vulnerability to poverty and the second section explores the Cambodian context and its poverty profile. In the third section, two complementary but distinct poverty measuring tools are applied: a multidimensional relative poverty tool based on Principal Component Analysis (AMK-PCA Wellbeing Score) and a one-dimensional absolute poverty tool based on Daily Food Expenditure per capita. Both tools are based on food security. The analysis shows AMK's extensive poverty outreach, and the comparison of the outputs from both tools further confirm the reliability of results.The main conclusion of this dissertation is that it is not possible to create a single poverty assessment tool that provides simultaneously absolute and multidimensional results. What is possible is to apply two tools, as part of a combined research effort within the context of rural Cambodia, so that poverty and vulnerability can be assessed regularly as a multidimensional concept while adding a monetary tool that allows for easier comparisons at the national level.

Microfinance and Vulnerability to Poverty
Microfinance and Vulnerability to Poverty

Author: Oliver Rogall

Publisher: Ibidem Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 9783838202372

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Low income households are faced with various types of risks, increasing their vulnerability to poverty. In Cambodia, conditions of the rural poor - with the majority engaged in agriculture - are characterized by low productivity, limited capacities in terms of land and assets, volatile income sources, fluctuating farm input and output prices, debt and lack of credit worthiness. A microfinance institution operating in rural Cambodia and aiming to offer financial products to a large number of poor households is Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) Co. Ltd. Through its internal Market and Social Research Department, AMK staff annually collects socio-economic information about selected loan clients (household profiles, cash-flow analysis), as well as non-clients as a control group. Their survey tool includes questions about household's food consumption, main risk sources and coping strategies. The present research study draws information from this AMK survey database. The measures taken are applied to socio-economic cross-sectional data as of 2006/07 and validated with panel data from 2008.A theoretical framework is developed to examine the mechanisms through which the effects of the AMK services on its clients influence the household's ability to manage risk. It includes measurement aspects of a forward-looking concept of vulnerability to identify and capture its linkages to risks, shocks, and risk strategies of rural households. Secondly it incorporates the dynamic aspects of poverty by looking at temporal changes in absolute poverty levels. Moreover, it seeks to identify gaps and opportunities of microfinance services as a risk management strategy to reduce vulnerability.The results show that the fraction of vulnerable households (85%) facing a risk of poverty is considerably greater than what the static poverty assessment suggests. Results further show that the majority of the sample households are poor (72%) as of 2006 and 2007. Among the non-clients the figure is substantially lower with 58% poor households, whereas 75% of the AMK microfinance clients fall below the poverty line. This particular confirms the intended outreach targets of AMK.Furthermore, it could be ascertained that those clients who remained clients could significantly accumulate assets and became less dependent on agricultural activities. This is a good indication that AMK clients have safety nets and more strategic possibilities in case of future shocks.

Vulnerability to Poverty
Vulnerability to Poverty

Author: M. Grimm

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-30

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0230306624

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With the current global crisis, high levels of volatility in trade, capital flows, commodity prices, aid, and the looming threat of climate change, this book brings together high-quality research and presents conceptual issues and empirical results to analyze the determinants of the vulnerability to poverty in developing countries.

Efficiency, Equity and Well-Being in Selected African Countries
Efficiency, Equity and Well-Being in Selected African Countries

Author: Pia Nilsson

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-04-24

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 3030114198

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This book addresses poverty and well-being, equity, and efficiency in selected African countries. The chapters focus on three main topics: studies in the measurement and analysis of well-being and vulnerability to poverty, women's empowerment, and the dynamics and determinants of income and efficiency among smallholders. The chapters in the first section examine poverty, well-being, and vulnerability to poverty, as well as social exclusion, with a focus on households in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania. They highlight the need to consider multidimensional measures of well-being and vulnerability to poverty, the need to address the distribution of vulnerability across different segments of the population, as well as the importance of developing public policies aimed at poverty reduction and promoting the well-being of the poor. The next section deals with issues related to women’s empowerment, including a multidimensional case study of women’s empowerment in Ghana and women’s access to microfinance services in Ethiopia. The final section focuses on dynamics and determinants of income and efficiency among farm households in Ethiopia and Uganda. Using a variety of methodologies, this volume provides a multifaceted approach to studying poverty and well-being in a diverse range of locations. As such, it of use to undergraduate and graduate students studying African economics or economics of poverty and well-being, and will be appealing to public policymakers and international aid agencies.

Microfinance and Poverty Reduction
Microfinance and Poverty Reduction

Author: Susan Johnson

Publisher: Oxfam

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780855983697

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The book emphasizes the importance of studying the local context, and then considering the macroeconomic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK are examined with reference to further aspects of sustainability and impact assessment.

Quantifying Vulnerability to Poverty
Quantifying Vulnerability to Poverty

Author: Asep Suryahadi

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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Typically only a small proportion of the population is chronically poor; many more are not always poor but are vulnerable to episodes or seasons of poverty and would be interested in programs that reduce the risks they face.Vulnerability is an important aspect of households' experience of poverty. Many households, while not currently in poverty, recognize that they are vulnerable to events - a bad harvest, a lost job, an illness, an unexpected expense, an economic downturn - that could easily push them into poverty.Most operational measures define poverty as some function of the shortfall of current income or consumption expenditures from a poverty line, and hence measure poverty only at a single point in time.Pritchett, Suryahadi, and Sumarto propose a simple expansion of those measures to quantify vulnerability to poverty. They define vulnerability as a probability, the risk that a household will experience at least one episode of poverty in the near future. A household is defined as vulnerable if it has 50-50 odds or worse of falling into poverty.Using those definitions, they calculate the vulnerability to poverty line (VPL) as the level of expenditures below which a household is vulnerable to poverty. The VPL allows the calculation of a headcount vulnerability rate (the proportion of households vulnerable to poverty), a direct analogue of the headcount poverty rate.The authors implement this approach using two sets of panel data from Indonesia. First they show that if the poverty line is set so that the headcount poverty rate is 20 percent, the proportion of households vulnerable to poverty is roughly 30-50 percent. In addition to the 20 percent currently poor, an additional 10-30 percent of the population is at substantial risk of poverty.They illustrate the usefulness of this approach for targeting by examining differences in vulnerability between households by gender, level of education, urban-rural residence, land-holding status, and sector of occupation of the head of household.This paper - a product of the Environment and Social Development Sector Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to develop a national poverty reduction strategy for Indonesia. Lant Pritchett may be contacted at [email protected].

Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia
Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia

Author: Almas Heshmati

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-03-31

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 9812874208

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This book looks at the major policy challenges facing developing Asia and how the region sustains rapid economic growth to reduce multidimensional poverty through socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable measures. Asia is facing many challenges arising from population growth, rapid urbanization, provision of services, climate change and the need to redress declining growth after the global financial crisis. This book examines poverty and related issues and aims to advance the development of new tools and measurement of multidimensional poverty and poverty reduction policy analysis. The book covers a wide range of issues, including determinants and causes of poverty and its changes; consequences and impacts of poverty on human capital formation, growth and consumption; assessment of poverty strategies and policies; the role of government, NGOs and other institutions in poverty reduction; rural-urban migration and poverty; vulnerability to poverty; breakdown of poverty into chronic and transitory components; and a comparative study on poverty issues in Asia and other regions. The book will appeal to all those interested in economic development, resources, policies and economic welfare and growth.