Fate and Fear: Risk and Its Consequences in Africa.

Journal article

We review the evidence on risk and its consequences in Africa. We argue that too much attention has been given to the risk management and coping mechanisms used by households, and not enough on its implications and the scope for interventions. Much of the empirical work on risk in developing countries has also focused largely on the short-run implications and has ignored the long run. Risk and shocks have important long-run implications for growth and poverty, and distinguishing risk from sho...

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Authors: Dercon, S

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Journal of African Economies
• Volume: 17
• Issue: suppl_2
• Pages: 97 - 127
• Publication date: 2008-01-01
• DOI: doi:10.1093/jae/ejn019
• ISSN: 0963-8024
• Language: English