Browsing by Author "Lemi, Taye"

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    Chronic Poverty, Transient Poverty, and Vulnerability in Rural Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2019-01) Lemi, Taye; Tassew, Woldehanna (prof)
    This study analyzes the nature of poverty|chronic versus transient|and household vulnerability to poverty in rural Ethiopia using panel data from the Ethiopia Socioe- conomic Survey (ESS). Much of the poverty observed in the sample is transient in nature, and the proportion of persistently poor households among the chronically poor is relatively low. Quantile regression is used to see whether the same set of variables determine chronic and transient poverty. The results suggest that processes that gen- erate the two types of poverty are di erent; while household characteristics such as size of land owned, value of crops, and number of livestock were signi cant in determining chronic poverty, they do not a ect transient poverty. This implies that measures ap- plied to deal with chronic poverty may not have an impact on transient poverty and vice versa. The analysis of vulnerability to poverty is important to design appropri- ate forward-looking antipoverty interventions. This study measures vulnerability as the probability that a household's level of consumption falls below the poverty line in the future. Vulnerability is found to be higher among the poor and exhibited an inverse correlation with a household's ownership of assets. Moreover, vulnerability is more widespread than poverty. The probability of being vulnerable was higher for households who have faced agricultural shocks and are endowed with less human and physical capital. Focusing on reducing risk and its consequences, through safety nets, credit and insurance schemes, in addition to raising the average level of well-being, is important to minimize vulnerability.