Project Details
Projekt
FOR 756: Impact of Shocks on the Vulnerability to Poverty: Consequences for Development of Emerging Southeast Asian Economies
Subject Area
Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
Geosciences
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Geosciences
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Term
from 2006 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 23753993
While the economics of poverty has advanced during recent years and now better captures the true complexity of the poverty phenomena in developing countries, static poverty measures based on cross-sectional data are still in widespread use, in spite of their limited usefulness in describing the long-term welfare situation of the poor. To date, still more than one billion people live below the international poverty line, i.e. are poor at any point in time, but a much larger number of people face temporary poverty or are at risk of falling into poverty. Combined with growing uncertainty in the ecological, economic and political environment, this calls for the development of dynamic concepts of poverty in the context of risks, shocks and vulnerability.
Therefore, the Research Unit aims to advance the concept and the methodology of measuring vulnerability to poverty in the context of emerging economies in Southeast Asia. During the first phase the Research Unit will concentrate on Thailand and Vietnam. More specifically, the objectives are
(1) to expand the conceptual and methodological understanding of vulnerability to poverty and provide a "state-of-the-art" assessment of the vulnerability to poverty in the area;
(2) to advance the understanding of poor households' decision-making in risky environments;
(3) to assess the impact of shocks on rural households and communities in terms of income and wealth;
(4) to investigate the contribution of forward-looking social protection as an approach to align the growth-equity trade-off in development. A major focus of the research groups will be on the empirical analyses and a quantitative framework for social risk management as a basis for designing appropriate policies of social protection for emerging economies.
Besides improving the assessment of the impact of future crises subject to the state of economic development of a country, a better understanding of various preventive and adjustment mechanisms, which are suitable under different socio-political systems and cultural circumstances, will be achieved to provide guidance for developing country governments and donor organisations on effective and efficient interventions supporting risk-reducing strategies of the poor and vulnerable. To achieve its objectives, the Research Unit will establish and analyse a comprehensive database of rural households, firms and regional stakeholders in rural provinces in Thailand and Vietnam. An interdisciplinary team will analyse the sources of risk as well as intrasectoral, intersectoral and interregional, interpersonal and intertemporal ways of diversifying against risks and the corresponding coping strategies.
Therefore, the Research Unit aims to advance the concept and the methodology of measuring vulnerability to poverty in the context of emerging economies in Southeast Asia. During the first phase the Research Unit will concentrate on Thailand and Vietnam. More specifically, the objectives are
(1) to expand the conceptual and methodological understanding of vulnerability to poverty and provide a "state-of-the-art" assessment of the vulnerability to poverty in the area;
(2) to advance the understanding of poor households' decision-making in risky environments;
(3) to assess the impact of shocks on rural households and communities in terms of income and wealth;
(4) to investigate the contribution of forward-looking social protection as an approach to align the growth-equity trade-off in development. A major focus of the research groups will be on the empirical analyses and a quantitative framework for social risk management as a basis for designing appropriate policies of social protection for emerging economies.
Besides improving the assessment of the impact of future crises subject to the state of economic development of a country, a better understanding of various preventive and adjustment mechanisms, which are suitable under different socio-political systems and cultural circumstances, will be achieved to provide guidance for developing country governments and donor organisations on effective and efficient interventions supporting risk-reducing strategies of the poor and vulnerable. To achieve its objectives, the Research Unit will establish and analyse a comprehensive database of rural households, firms and regional stakeholders in rural provinces in Thailand and Vietnam. An interdisciplinary team will analyse the sources of risk as well as intrasectoral, intersectoral and interregional, interpersonal and intertemporal ways of diversifying against risks and the corresponding coping strategies.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Projects
- Economic restructuring and responses to crisis: actors, institutions and developments in rural Vietnam/Thailand (Applicants Liefner, Ingo ; Revilla Diez, Javier )
- Enhancement and extension of a panel data base of multi-locational households for vulnerability assessment in Thailand and Vietnam (Applicant Waibel, Hermann )
- The capacity of agriculture to adjust to economic crisis and environmental shocks in Thailand and Vietnam (Applicant Grote, Ulrike )
- The role of financial institutions in absorbing shocks and reducing vulnerability: Evidence for households and small enterprises in rural Thailand and Vietnam (Applicants Klump, Rainer ; Menkhoff, Lukas )
- Vulnerability and household dynamics: Conceptual and empirical issues for Thailand and Vietnam (Applicant Klasen, Ph.D., Stephan )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Hermann Waibel
