Nonlinear dynamics of livestock assets: Evidence from Ethiopia

Stefan Dercon and Bjorn Van Campenhout

No 1215, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Recent research on the intertemporal dynamics of poverty using microeconomic data often hints at the existence of poverty traps, where some find themselves trapped at a low-level stable equilibrium while others enjoy a higher stable equilibrium. Without a sizable positive shock to well-being, those trapped at the low equilibrium will not automatically outgrow destitution, but merely fluctuate around that low-level equilibrium. Given the dramatic policy consequences implied by such a theory, knowledge about the location of the different equilibria would be extremely helpful. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of threshold-type models to identify those crucial parameters. We illustrate the method by searching for traps in the dynamics of livestock asset holdings in rural Ethiopia. We find evidence of distribution-dependent dynamics and multiple equilibria for tropical livestock units.

Keywords: microeconomics; data; Livestock; Assets; livestock assets; multiple equilibria; Poverty traps; Market equilibrium; Rural areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1215

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