Vulnerability and Livelihoods before and after the Haiti Earthquake

This paper examines the dynamics of
poverty and vulnerability in Haiti using various data sets.
As living conditions survey data are not comparable in this
country, we first propose to use the three rounds of the
Demographic Health Survey (DHS) available before the
earthquake. Decomposing household assets changes into age
and cohort effects, we use repeated cross-section data to
identify and estimate the variance of shocks on assets and
to simulate the probability of being poor in the future.
Poverty and vulnerability profiles are drawn from these
estimates. Second, we decompose vulnerability to poverty
into various sources using a unique survey conducted in 2007
in rural areas. Using two-level modelling of
consumption/income, we assess the impact of both observable
and unobservable idiosyncratic and covariate shocks on
households' economic well-being. Empirical findings
show that idiosyncratic shocks, in particular health-related
shocks, have larger impact on vulnerability to poverty than
covariate shocks. Third, asset-wealth is characterized for
households after the 2010 earthquake based on a survey
designed to provide a rapid assessment of food insecurity in
Haiti after the quake. Whereas it is not possible to confirm
the existence of poverty trap, it seems that those
households who have lost the most due to the earthquake
succeeded in recovering more rapidly from the shock,
regardless of the effects of assistance, and probably more
in line with coping strategies that are specific to households.