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Snakes and ladders and loaded dice: Poverty dynamics and inequality in South Africa, 2008-2017

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  • Rocco Zizzamia
  • Simone Schotte
  • Murray Leibbrandt

Abstract

Longitudinal surveys can give insight into economic mobility, which allows us to understand how markers of (dis)advantage are consequential in determining material conditions in the present, and how these markers structure economic opportunity over time. In this paper we show that this dynamic element—the risk of falling into (deeper) poverty and the chances of moving up—looms large in the economic lives of both the poor and the non-poor in South Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Rocco Zizzamia & Simone Schotte & Murray Leibbrandt, 2019. "Snakes and ladders and loaded dice: Poverty dynamics and inequality in South Africa, 2008-2017," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-25, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-25
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adhikari, Tamanna & Greyling, Talita & Rossouw, Stephanie, 2021. "The ugly truth about social welfare payments and households' subjective well-being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 883, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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