Poverty, Vulnerability, and Household Coping Strategies during the 2015-16 Recession in Belarus
This paper examines the impact of the recent recession in Belarus on poverty and broader measures of household welfare and compares the recent recession episode to previous economic crises in Belarus. The paper constructs a measure of vulnerability...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/465121568118662575/Poverty-Vulnerability-and-Household-Coping-Strategies-during-the-2015-16-Recession-in-Belarus http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32377 |
| Summary: | This paper examines the impact of the
recent recession in Belarus on poverty and broader measures
of household welfare and compares the recent recession
episode to previous economic crises in Belarus. The paper
constructs a measure of vulnerability to poverty, based on
an estimated probability of falling below the national
poverty threshold not exceeding 10 percent, which is
estimated for each year of the household survey data between
2014 and 2017. The analysis finds that the recession of
2014-16 was qualitatively different from earlier recent
crisis episodes (2008-09 and 2010-11) in that it affected
low-income households to a much greater extent, and the
negative welfare effects lingered. The paper also documents
that although the recession did not result in a substantial
increase in absolute poverty by the official definition, it
led to a considerable increase in the share of households
that are vulnerable to poverty. The greater degree of
vulnerability is also evident from the growing share of the
population that faced a risk of poverty within a year (going
in and out of poverty). Household types for which the impact
of the recession was most pronounced are households with
multiple children, single-parent households, residents of
rural areas, as well as those who were not employed, partly
employed, or low-skilled employees. Coping strategies that
were employed by the population were largely related to
reducing expenditures and, among vulnerable households, food
expenditures in particular, as well as drawing down on their savings. |
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