Risk and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people often live in environments characterized by high weather and disease risk, and it is poor households that have the fewest tools to deal with drought, floods, and disease when they occur. Breaking the link between risk and poverty by insuring poor people both lessens the affliction of poverty and allows poor people to participate in income growth.
This policy seminar will discuss how to develop insurance markets, social protection, and savings and credit markets to protect the world’s poorest against uncertainty. It will also highlight what remains unknown and the future challenges for research and action in this area. The seminar will introduce 15 IFPRI 2020 policy briefs prepared by experts in the field that document innovations, lessons learned, and areas of future work and action in insuring the poor.
Michael Carter is Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. Lena Heron is Rural Development Advisor, Office of Agriculture, at the US Agency for International Development. Ruth Vargas Hill is Research Fellow, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI. Maximo Torero is Division Director of the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI.