Rural Poverty, Risk and Development

Throughout their lifetime, men and women are subject to a wide variety of risks, such as illness, accident, death, or less directly, unemployment, crop failure, loss of property, disability, business failre and skill obsolescence. This volume investigates the relationships between rural poverty, risk, and development. Building upon the author's work in the area, it summarizes the contributions of recent theoretical and empirical work to our understanding of how risk affects rural poverty levels in developing countries. In particular the book examines what we do and do ot know about risk coping strategies among modern poor rural societies. Ways in which these strategies may be re-examined and improved by governments and international organizations are proposed.