An asset-based approach to vulnerability: the case of small-scale fishing areas in Cameroon and Nigeria

Migration, Embeddedness, and Vulnerability During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant policy measures have disproportionally affected the lives of migrants worldwide. Focusing on inequalities between social groups, studies have tended to neglect the role of local embeddedness as a factor influencing the extent to which individuals are affected by COVID-19. In this paper, we study the vulnerabilities of people with different migration experiences in an urban setting in the early stages of the pandemic, focusing on three key livelihood assets: economic, social, and human capital (health). Our analyses are based on online survey data (n = 1381) collected among international migrants, second-generation residents (those with at least one parent born abroad), and non-migrants residing in Amsterdam in July 2020. We find that international migrants, and particularly those who arrived in the city more recently, reported larger shocks to their economic and social capital than other city residents. This finding illustrates the vulnerabilities of "newcomers" to the city and their limited resilience to shocks. Second-generation residents were particularly vulnerable in terms of health, but this relationship was strongly mediated by education and neighborhood effects. In all three groups, those with poor relative wealth and those who were self-employed were more vulnerable to economic shocks. Our findings illustrate how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in vulnerabilities across migrant and non-migrant groups, and how those who were locally embedded, including migrants and non-migrants, were less likely to be negatively affected by the pandemic.

The Impact of Mobile Payment on Household Poverty Vulnerability: A Study Based on CHFS2017 in China

Changes in digital technology have brought about new opportunities in the field of financial poverty alleviation in China, and mobile payment as a new digital financial model is important in helping families to lift themselves out of poverty effectively and prevent a return to poverty. This paper examines the impact of mobile payment on household poverty vulnerability and the mechanism of action using the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) 2017 microsurvey data. After adopting the IVprobit model and a series of robustness tests, we found: (1) mobile payment significantly negatively impacts household poverty vulnerability; (2) the mechanism analysis indicates that promoting entrepreneurship and improving risk management capabilities are the main channels through which mobile payment mitigates household poverty vulnerability; (3) household entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial survival significantly reduce the probability of poverty vulnerability; and (4) the probit regression analysis explores how mobile payment has a greater negative impact on poverty vulnerability among low-income, homeless, and relatively backward households in rural or western areas. This work contributes to the literature on the use of electronic communication technology to eradicate poverty and on inclusive finance, providing vital results for other countries to use as an example.

Digital Financial Inclusion and Farmers’ Vulnerability to Poverty: Evidence from Rural China

Access to finance is often cited as a key factor for sustainable poverty alleviation, but expanding access to the poor remains an important challenge for financial institutions. Much hope has, therefore, been placed in the transformative power of digital financial inclusion. However, evidence on the relationship between digital financial inclusion and poverty is limited. This paper is one of the first attempts to study the effects of digital financial inclusion on farmers’ vulnerability to poverty in China, using survey data on 1900 rural households. Vulnerability to poverty, here defined as the likelihood of poverty in the future, is measured by the Asset-Based Vulnerability model. In our survey, the proportion of farmers using digital financial services is 35.63%. Our estimations show that farmers’ use of digital financial services have positive effects on reduction in their vulnerability. We also find that such effects rely mainly on improvement in farmers’ ability to cope with risk, that is, alleviating their vulnerability induced by risk. Further investigation reveals that digital financial services provided by ICT companies have a larger impact on farmers’ vulnerability than that provided by traditional banks. The lessons learned from China’s digital financial inclusion is valuable for other developing countries where financial exclusion looms large.