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On the Economic Vulnerability of Low-Income Countries

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  • Patrick GUILLAUMONT

    (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI))

Abstract

This paper examines the relevance of the concept of economic vulnerability for low income countries, a topic of recent concern in several international bodies. It first proposes some conceptual clarifications and a method to build an internationally comparable indicator. Three factors of vulnerability are identified: shocks, exposure and resilience or capacity to react (the first two ones being more structural, the third one more related to policy). To measure the two main kinds of shocks (natural and external), proposed proxies are respectively the instability of agricultural production and the instability of the purchasing power of exports, while the (smallness of) the population size can be used as a proxy for (structural) exposure. To aggregate the various possible indicators of shocks and exposure in a composite index of structural economic vulnerability, weights can be drawn from their estimated impact on growth. Then selected issues related to the impact of vulnerability on growth are considered: "primary" instabilities (natural events, terms of trade, political troubles) are found to slow growth, more by their effect on the total factor productivity growth than on the rate of investment, to do so through "intermediate" instabilities (of the rate of investment and of the real exchange rate), and in agricultural economies through their impact at the farmer level. Besides its negative effects on growth, vulnerability is assumed to increase aid effectiveness: the more the recipient country is vulnerable the more aid contributes to growth. Implications are drawn for aid allocation and aid design.

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  • Patrick GUILLAUMONT, 2001. "On the Economic Vulnerability of Low-Income Countries," Working Papers 200102, CERDI.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdi:wpaper:150
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastien Biass & Corine Frischknecht & Costanza Bonadonna, 2012. "A fast GIS-based risk assessment for tephra fallout: the example of Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador-Part II: vulnerability and risk assessment," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 64(1), pages 615-639, October.
    2. Jean-Louis ARCAND & Patrick GUILLAUMONT & Sylviane GUILLAUMONT JEANNENEY, 2001. "Are Policy Reform and Growth in Africa Sustainable?," Working Papers 200105, CERDI.
    3. Sebastien Biass & Corine Frischknecht & Costanza Bonadonna, 2013. "A fast GIS-based risk assessment for tephra fallout: the example of Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 65(1), pages 497-521, January.

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