Description

The balance of all things: Explaining household poverty dynamics in 50 villages of Gujarat, India

ANIRUDH KRISHNA

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham NC, USA

J DANIEL LECY

PhD Student in Social Science, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, USA

ABSTRACT

Explanations for poverty have often tended to focus on momentous, especially calamitous, events. In this analysis we show how households’ longer-term economic fortunes are more significantly influenced by a succession of quotidian, recurring, and comparatively minor events. Rather than any single event, it is the balance of positive and negative everyday events that better explains where a household will eventually land up. Policy interventions can make a deeper impact on poverty by influencing the balance of everyday events.

Keywords: poverty dynamics; poverty traps; Stages of Progress methodology; disaster relief