Rainfall Shocks and Within-Community Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

Household-level impacts of environmental shocks are often negative, but may vary considerably due to heterogeneous vulnerability. This paper considers how differential vulnerability among households affects inequality within rural communities in Ethiopia. This study makes novel use of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and a NASA agro-climatology dataset. Results show that rainfall deficits have an equalizing effect on within-community livestock inequality in parts of Ethiopia, but regional differences are observed. A non-significant effect is observed with respect to asset inequality. As an initial study on this topic, this paper outlines an agenda for future data collection and analysis efforts.