Anatomy of Coping : Evidence from People Living through the Crises of 2008–11
This paper surveys qualitative crisis monitoring data from sites in 17 developing and transition countries to describe crisis impacts and analyze the responses and sources of support used by people to cope. These crises included shocks to export se...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120123115915 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3242 |
| Summary: | This paper surveys qualitative crisis
monitoring data from sites in 17 developing and transition
countries to describe crisis impacts and analyze the
responses and sources of support used by people to cope.
These crises included shocks to export sectors as a result
of the global financial crisis, as well as food and fuel
price volatility, in the period from 2008 to early 2011.
Respondents reported the crisis had resulted in significant
hardships in the form of foregone meals, education, and
health care, food insecurity, asset losses, stress, and
worsening crime and community cohesion. Although the
export-oriented formal sector was most exposed to the global
economic downturn, the crises impacts were more damaging for
informal sector workers, and some of the adverse impacts
will be long-lasting and possibly irreversible. There were
important gender and age differences in the distribution of
impacts and coping responses, some of which diverged from
what has been seen in previous crisis coping responses. The
more common sources of assistance were family, friends, and
community-based and religious organizations; formal social
protection and finance were not widely cited as sources of
support in most study countries. However, as the crisis
deepened, the traditional informal safety nets of the poor
became depleted because of the large and long-lasting shocks
that ensued, pointing to the need for better formal social
protection systems for coping with future shocks. |
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