In the extant literature either income or consumption expenditures as measured over short periods of time have been regarded as proxies for the material well-being of households. However, economists have long recognized that a household's sense of well-being depends not just on its average income or expenditures, but also on the risks it faces. Hence vulnerability is a more satisfactory measure of welfare. In this paper we measure the extent of vulnerability as expected poverty, and examine the importance of its determinants, on the basis of a household survey for Fiji. We find that in Fiji, vulnerability (and poverty) is largely a rural phenomenon. Moreover, the distribution of vulnerability across different segments of the population can differ significantly from the distribution of poverty. In addition, there is a sizable fraction of the population Fiji observed to be non-poor but estimated to be vulnerable to poverty. Thus, poverty reduction strategies in Fiji need to incorporate not just alleviation efforts but also prevention.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Australian National University, Economics RSPAS in its series Departmental Working Papers with number
2008-07.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2006.
"Measuring Vulnerability to Food Insecurity,"
Working Papers
06-12, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
[Downloadable!]