An asset-based approach to vulnerability

The case of small-scale fishing areas in Cameroon and Nigeria

authored by
Levison S. Chiwaula, Rudolf Witt, Hermann Waibel
Abstract

This paper analyses vulnerability to poverty of rural small-scale fishing communities using cross-section data from 295 households in Cameroon and 267 in Nigeria. We propose a vulnerability measure that incorporates the idea of asset poverty into the concept of expected poverty, which allows decomposing expected poverty into expected structural-chronic, structural-transient, and stochastic-transient poverty. The findings show that most households in our study areas are expected to be structurally-chronic and structurally-transient poor. This underlines the importance of asset formation for long-term poverty reduction strategies. Further refinements are possible with longitudinal data and information about future states of nature.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics
Type
Article
Journal
Journal of Development Studies
Volume
47
Pages
338-353
No. of pages
16
ISSN
0022-0388
Publication date
02.2011
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Development
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 1 - No Poverty
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220381003599410 (Access: Closed)