East Asia has made tremendous strides in reducing abject poverty, with the share of the population living below $1/day declining sharply over the last two decades. Improvements in non-income dimensions of poverty have also been considerable, if less impressive. But the region’s success thus far masks some remaining challenges—continued and widespread vulnerability to transitory episodes of poverty while the dramatic growth and structural transformation the region has experienced have given rise to new challenges—potentially increasing vulnerability of households, poor and non-poor, to a variety of uninsured risks. A large and growing body of evidence indicates that vulnerability to poverty remains high in many countries of East Asia reflecting the potential fragility of recent gains and continuing exposure to risks from different sources. The two complementary objectives of the study are (1) to raise awareness in the region of the scope of this challenge and of the importance of meeting it and (2) to inform and strengthen the regional policy dialogue and practice on how best to meet this challenge.

In laying out how exposure to a variety of uninsured risks influences household welfare and conceptualizing how public and private interventions can and do help households manage and cope with these risks, the framework the study is adopting is that of social risk management. Under this framework, measures to manage and deal with risks (and with the shocks that are the realization of these risks) are grouped into three broad categories, each of which involves a mix of reliance on public interventions, informal arrangements, and market-based approaches. Read more

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As part of the Regional Study, three data sets on risk and program participation are being collected in Lao PDR, Timor Leste, and Vietnam. Data collection instruments (questionnaires and field manuals) were discussed and developed for this exercise.
 
The questions in these surveys inquire on the frequency of a number of adverse events related to natural and biological hazards, economic shocks, shocks to health and household composition, and socio political shocks. On a shock-by-shock basis, the questions also aim at identifying the main losses caused by the above mentioned adverse events.

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Providing Social Protection in East Asia and the Pacific: a challenge and an opportunity  (218kb pdf)
This policy note provides an overview of the link between vulnerability and poverty in East Asia and the Pacific countries, and takes stock on knowledge about safety net programs across EAP in terms of program design, government expenditures, targeting, and coverage.

Employment shocks and well-being in East Asia (52kb pdf)
The main objective of this work is to document the incidence and welfare implications of employment shocks in a selected sample of East Asian countries. The main empirical results exploit the availability of panel data with detailed information on urban employment conditions from Thailand, China, and the Philippines.

Contrasting Welfare Impacts of Health and Agricultural Shocks in Rural China (201kb pdf)
Using detailed information on a variety of shocks and household characteristics from the China Rural Social Protection Survey, this paper examines who are more likely to be exposed to shocks, what ex-post coping strategies are employed, and how shocks affect the welfare of Chinese rural households.

Gender Vulnerabilities in the Context of Economic Transition (382kb pdf)
The note aims to provide a brief overview of the main persistent and emerging issues and trends concerning gender and vulnerability in East Asia and their policy implications, in order to inform future efforts in this area

The Run on Rice (252kb pdf)
This note examines the reasons for the surge in world food prices, in particular of rice. It reviews the economic and poverty impacts of rising food prices in East Asian countries.

Changes in labor markets, and their implications for workers: The case of Vietnam  (310kb pdf)
This paper was prepared by Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong from the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs (Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs) in Vietnam to be presented at the Workshop "Managing Vulnerability in EAP". The paper provides an update of the main macro and labor market trends in the country. It then describes the most important labor market policies and institutions in the country. The paper discusses the relationship between some of the transformations taking place in the country and how they are affecting workers and their exposure to risk and shocks. It ends with a discussion of the main priorities for policy action.

Upcoming:

Health shocks, vulnerability and public policy

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Ms. Ana Revenga

Director, Poverty Reduction Group

Prof. Soonman Kwon
Department. of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University