Vulnerability in Developing Countries
“In a world characterized by increasing risks at the micro and macro levels, understanding the determinants of vulnerability is at the cutting edge of poverty research and policy. This volume is a most timely contribution to helping understand how households, economies and states in the developing world are affected by risks and shocks, and what coping mechanisms might help to mitigate this vulnerability”.—Stephan Klasen, Professor of Economics and coordinator of the Courant Research Center Poverty, Equity, and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries, University of Göttingen.
More than a billion people live in extreme poverty. Many face the risk of never escaping from poverty. These risks are exacerbated by natural hazards, ill-health, and macroeconomic volatility. Consequently, vulnerability has become the defining challenge of our times. Despite this there is a need to better understand vulnerability, particularly in developing countries where people do not have the same bulwarks against risks. This volume addresses this need by pulling together essays from leading scholars in the field. It focuses on critical dimensions of vulnerability in developing countries such as the relationship between poverty and vulnerability, and vulnerability arising from ill-health and external shocks. Reflecting the multi-dimensionality of vulnerability, it showcases a variety of methodologies, which offer new perspectives on the use and relevance of the notion of vulnerability in economic development.
- Publisher:
- The UNU Press
- Title:
- Vulnerability in Developing Countries
- Authors:
- Edited by Wim Naudé, Amelia U. Santos-Paulino and Mark McGillivray
- Publication date:
- August 2009
- ISBN Printed:
- 9280811711
- ISBN 13 Print:
- 9789280811711
- Copyright holder:
- © United Nations University
- Copyright year:
- 2009
- Keywords:
- vulnerability, poverty, inequality, fragility, development
- JEL:
- I32, I38, O10, O12
- Project:
- Fragility and Development
- Format:
- paperback book