The ability of households to insure consumption from adverse shocks is an important aspect of vulnerability to poverty. How is consumption insurance achieved in a low-income setting where formal credit and insurance markets have been observed to be imperfect or missing? Using 2003 data from the...

This paper synthesizes the results of five studies using household panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali, Mexico and Russia, which examine the extent to which households are able through formal and/or informal arrangements to insure their consumption from specific economic shocks and...

This paper examines how differences in the bargaining power of husband and wifeaffect the distribution of consumption expenditures in rural Bangladeshi households. Twoalternative measures of assets are used: current assets and the value of assets brought tomarriage. Results show that both assets...