1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910838233103321

Titolo

The Economics of Poverty Traps / / Michael Carter, Christopher B. Barrett, Jean-Paul Chavas, Michael R. Carter

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago : , : University of Chicago Press, , [2019]

©2018

ISBN

0-226-57444-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (425 pages)

Collana

National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report

Disciplina

339.46

Soggetti

Poverty

Public welfare

Transfer payments

Marginality, Social

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 Human Capital and Shocks. Evidence on Education, Health, and Nutrition -- 2. Poverty and Cognitive Function -- Comment on Chapters 1 and 2 -- 3. Depression through the Lens of Economics. A Research Agenda -- 4. Hope as Aspirations, Agency, and Pathways. Poverty Dynamics and Microfinance in Oaxaca, Mexico -- Comment on Chapters 3 and 4 -- 5. Taking Stock of the Evidence on Microfinancial Interventions -- 6. Poverty Traps and the Social Protection Paradox -- 7. Heterogeneous Wealth Dynamics. On the Roles of Risk and Ability -- 8. Agroecosystem Productivity and the Dynamic Response to Shocks -- Comment on Chapters 7 and 8 -- 9. Sustaining Impacts When Transfers End. Women Leaders, Aspirations, and Investments in Children -- 10. Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Intergenerational Poverty Trap? -- Comment on Chapters 9 and 10 -- Contributors -- Author Index -- Subject Index

Sommario/riassunto

What circumstances or behaviors turn poverty into a cycle that perpetuates across generations? The answer to this question carries especially important implications for the design and evaluation of policies and projects intended to reduce poverty. Yet a major challenge



analysts and policymakers face in understanding poverty traps is the sheer number of mechanisms-not just financial, but also environmental, physical, and psychological-that may contribute to the persistence of poverty all over the world. The research in this volume explores the hypothesis that poverty is self-reinforcing because the equilibrium behaviors of the poor perpetuate low standards of living. Contributions explore the dynamic, complex processes by which households accumulate assets and increase their productivity and earnings potential, as well as the conditions under which some individuals, groups, and economies struggle to escape poverty. Investigating the full range of phenomena that combine to generate poverty traps-gleaned from behavioral, health, and resource economics as well as the sociology, psychology, and environmental literatures-chapters in this volume also present new evidence that highlights both the insights and the limits of a poverty trap lens. The framework introduced in this volume provides a robust platform for studying well-being dynamics in developing economies.