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Based on cross-sectional survey data collected from rural households (n = 446), this study analyzes the impact of community-based tourism (CBT) on sustainable livelihood assets of rural households and poverty. The propensity score matching (PSM) finding revealed that CBT has improved the overall livelihood asset value of participants by 30.4%. The FGT poverty analysis result also showed that multidimensional/asset poverty greatly varies by participation and is found to be high among CBT nonparticipants. Thus, rural poverty reduction through enhancing livelihood assets demands further emphasis by policymakers and tourism development stakeholders at all levels for the sustainability of both household livelihoods and tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This thematic issue examines the insurance function as a mechanism to underlie wealth effects on various outcomes. The articles in this issue shed an innovative light on the insurance function of wealth concerning a range of topics relevant to social stratification and social policy researchers. This editorial provides an overview of the contributions of this thematic issue and highlights some gaps and remaining open questions. Altogether, the contributions suggest that wealth can provide insurance against adverse life events in various contexts. However, this insurance effect depends on welfare state characteristics, wealth portfolios, and the way families handle their wealth.

This thematic issue examines the insurance function as a mechanism to underlie wealth effects on various outcomes. The articles in this issue shed an innovative light on the insurance function of wealth concerning a range of topics relevant to social stratification and social policy researchers. This editorial provides an overview of the contributions of this thematic issue and highlights some gaps and remaining open questions. Altogether, the contributions suggest that wealth can provide insurance against adverse life events in various contexts. However, this insurance effect depends on welfare state characteristics, wealth portfolios, and the way families handle their wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When measuring poverty in South Africa, much of the theoretical and empirical work has focused on money-metric measures of poverty. The conventional approach has been the use of a poverty line sufficient to meet primary human needs, often derived from consumption, expenditure or income levels. This narrow perspective has tended to divert the attention of development economists towards the pursuit of income growth, which has been associated with development and a necessary condition for poverty reduction. However, with a changing emphasis on development, the model, analytical methods, and related frameworks have been subjected to critical scrutiny by populists and neoliberals alike. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing literature by using an alternative approach ─ a non-monetary approach to the measurement of poverty in South Africa. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in South Africa to compute an asset poverty index using principal component analysis in a panel setting and use appropriate panel data models to investigate the key determinants of asset poverty. We used data drawn from the existing five waves of the National Income Dynamic Study. Using the random effect probit model, we found that some factors, such as levels of education of the head of household (primary, secondary, matric and tertiary) and land ownership, have a reducing influence on asset poverty. Factors The results also revealed that household size and unemployed people are more prone in South Africa.

Both Canada and the United States are considered liberal welfare states, yet exhibit notable differences in income poverty attributed to social policy. While a more generous welfare system lifts many above income poverty, models of household financial behaviour suggest that more income from the state should displace private savings via a substitution effect. Using nationally representative wealth surveys from Canada and the US from 1998/1999 to 2016 we extend knowledge on the relationship between the welfare state and private wealth accumulation. Specifically, we study household asset poverty defined as financial asset levels that fall below three‐month adjusted income poverty threshold. Asset poverty rates varied over time in the two countries and were higher in the less generous US welfare state. Further, income transfer share was positively related to asset poverty in Canada but not in the US. Counterfactual estimates offered evidence of the substitution effect in Canada, where higher levels of transfers may crowd out private asset accumulation. Results invite further consideration of the concept of asset poverty and its relationship to welfare state characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on asset poverty of the elderly in South Korea have widely used the cross‐sectional method. Yet, the cross‐sectional approach is limited of use for understanding an important feature of poverty, such as changes in the poverty condition of particular individuals, as they grow older. To understand the actual living condition of the elderly over time, using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), I examined the asset poverty condition of the elderly between 2006 and 2016 from both cross‐sectional and longitudinal approaches. In consideration of meaningful differences between different age groups, I divided the elderly population as "middle‐aged," "young‐old," and "old‐old." When using the cross‐sectional approach, findings showed that there were no substantial differences in the asset poverty across age groups although the income poverty rate of the old‐old was three times higher than that of the middle‐aged. Longitudinal analysis revealed that wealth mobility was more likely to occur among relatively younger age groups, and older people have difficulties in improving their poverty conditions over time. Our findings suggest that for the asset poor in the old‐old group, it is necessary to enhance the social security system in South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construct of material hardship has been introduced to broaden the understanding of living conditions beyond household income. However, much remains unclear about how much variation in material hardship can be explained by income and other economic indicators such as asset holdings. To get advance knowledge on these related but distinct relationships, using the Korean Welfare Panel Study we tested the association between material hardship and three poverty indicators (joint income‐asset, asset‐only, and income‐only). For income poverty and asset poverty, we found a statistically significant association between a household's poverty condition and material hardship. The joint income‐asset poor were most likely to experience hardship (with respect to food, utility, and health). In addition, householders who rented rather than owned their own home, and householders whose heads were younger, single, less‐educated, and only temporarily employed suffered more hardship than their counterparts. Future longitudinal research that identifies the casual relationships between poverty and hardship is needed. Key Practitioner Message: •Considering only overall hardship may mask within‐group differences in living conditions; thus, practitioners may gain greater insight into client populations by assessing various types of hardships such as food, utility, and health; •Because the asset‐only poor suffer from hardship despite their above‐poverty‐level income, the asset poverty‐related programs should be more responsive to the problems of the asset poor; •Based on our findings showing that the income‐only poor, especially the relatively older age group, suffers from difficulties in cash flow despite their high homeownership rate, policies are needed to help older homeowners leverage their home equity or other real estate to alleviate their financial difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wealth is a durable economic resource and it is typically held by individuals over the long-term. Measuring the wealth-type resources held by families, lends important information about the financial security of children. Following others, we argue that wealth provides additional information regarding child well-being, complementing traditional income-based measurements. In this paper, we extend the traditional income measure of child poverty in Canada to include wealth, by defining and presenting two measures of low-assets, or asset poverty. We present a novel estimation of child asset poverty in Canada and the first known estimation of child-level asset poverty more broadly. Focusing specifically on the measurement of asset poverty among children, we find that rates of asset poverty are two to three times as large as rates of income poverty. Prior literature highlights that higher asset levels are strongly associated with better outcomes for children, and families. The high levels of asset poverty in Canada, relative to other comparable nations, has implications for indicators of child well-being and the welfare of Canadian children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Women’s time in domestic work is positively correlated with more diverse diets. • In Mozambique, impact of working in agriculture on women and children’s diet diversity varies by asset poverty. • Agriculture as a source of income is particularly important for the asset poor. • Women's time allocation and nutrition responses to agricultural interventions are likely to vary by local context. Abstract There are concerns that increasing women’s engagement in agriculture could negatively affect nutrition by limiting the time available for nutrition-improving reproductive work. However, very few empirical studies provide evidence to support these concerns. This paper examines the relationship between women’s time spent in domestic work and agriculture and women’s and children’s dietary diversity. Using data from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique, we find that women’s domestic work and cooking time are positively correlated with more diverse diets. We also find differential effects depending on asset poverty status. In Mozambique, working long hours in agriculture is negatively associated with women’s dietary diversity score in nonpoor women, but is positively associated with poor women’s dietary diversity and poor children’s minimum acceptable diet. This suggests that agriculture as a source of food and income is particularly important for the asset poor. Our results reveal that women’s time allocation and nutrition responses to agricultural interventions are likely to vary by socioeconomic status and local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its highly developed economy and modernized outlook, Hong Kong has a surprisingly severe poverty problem, especially among the aged. While income poverty among Hong Kong’s elderly has been widely acknowledged and extensively investigated, this study examines asset poverty using survey data of 4306 Hong Kong residents aged 60 or above. To investigate the link between asset poverty and income poverty, the income-poverty threshold is taken as being half the median household income, adjusted by the square root of household size; the asset poor are defined as those whose household assets are inadequate to cover their basic needs for a period of three months. Factors associated with the asset poverty of Hong Kong’s elderly are also examined. This study provides valuable information concerning asset poverty among older adults in an Asian society (namely, Hong Kong) and contributes to the literature on asset poverty, in which estimates of asset poverty are available only for the general population of some Western countries. Policy implications of the findings are discussed, and an asset-building approach is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors analyze different measures of asset and income poverty using microdata for 15 Euro-Area countries from the 2010 Household Finance and Consumption Survey. The authors are particularly interested in the way in which specific definitions of income and wealth poverty affect the number and sociodemographic characteristics of poor households, as well as their portfolio composition and consumption expenditure. The authors find that adding wealth to the poverty definition mainly influences the percentage of poor households but has a limited effect on the documented sociodemographic composition, portfolio structure, and food consumption of poor households compared to the patterns under a pure income poverty measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how atypical employment (i.e., part-time, temporary work, mini-jobs) affects workers' ability to accumulate financial assets and exposes them to asset poverty in Germany. Asset poverty occurs when household financial resources (e.g., bank deposits and stock equity) are insufficient to live at the income poverty line for three months. Previously, studies on labour market processes and wealth inequalities have been chiefly disconnected. Still, a large share of assets is accumulated from labour earnings, and thus, individual employment experiences likely affect asset accumulation. We draw on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2002–2017) and apply fixed-effect growth curve models. Compared to standard employment, we find that spells in temporary work and mini-jobs lead to lower levels of net financial assets, while part-time work results in similar asset growth rates. Furthermore, unemployment and inactivity undermine financial asset accumulation more than atypical employment. This suggests that temporary positions are even more detrimental if interspersed by periods of no employment. We also find that the detrimental effect of atypical employment is larger for low educated than high-educated and that penalties of previous spells of mini-jobs are larger for men than women, but the contrary is true concerning temporary employment. Finally, asset poverty risk increases only for unemployment and inactivity, not atypical employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rationale of this study is to bring in a new area of poverty measurement based on household's access to basic assets from across Indian States. The major drawback of the average income based measure of poverty is that it is unable to distinguish between the structural and stochastic nature of poverty. This paper applies the asset based framework to poverty to distinguish the relationship between structural and stochastic poverty. The paper has used data from the India Human Development Survey 2005. The results indicate the importance of asset formation for long term poverty reduction. There is a need for targeting pointed policies towards the identified structural poor and stochastic non-poor as they are the most vulnerable and need asset building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging body of knowledge has established that poorer households in forest adjacent communities in developing countries are generally more forest reliant (higher forest income share) while richer households tend to extract more and generate higher absolute forest income. These studies commonly categorize households based on observed income in cross-section data, presenting a snap-shot reflecting both inter-household and inter-annual income variation. In this paper we introduce a new approach to categorize households based on a combination of the observed one-year income and predicted income by an augmented asset approach. Applying this approach on household data from Tanzania, we find forest reliance to be high among structurally poor households (low observed income and assets). The highest forest reliance is found among the stochastically non-poor households (high income and low assets), and this group also has the highest absolute forest income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over two-thirds of Australians are owner-occupiers and a majority of the population holds most of their wealth in housing. Australian taxation privileges homeowners and retirement income policy is built around the assumption that state pensions can be kept low because an overwhelming majority of older Australians are outright homeowners and therefore have a considerable asset base and low housing costs post-retirement, a situation often referred to as ‘wealthfare’. However, ageing of the population and falling housing affordability mean that the number of asset-poor older Australians unable to rely on ‘wealthfare’ – lifetime renters or those who drop out of homeownership – is likely to grow in the future. In this paper we look at housing career pathways into precarious housing in older age, its impact on older Australians’ ontological security and coping strategies as they grapple with the housing circumstances that typically accompany asset poverty. Based on 30 interviews conducted with older Australians, the paper reports qualitative findings from a mixed methods research project conducted in Melbourne in 2009–2010. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite repeated expansions of federal food assistance, food insecurity and hunger continue to affect many Americans. While job loss and poverty are among major contributors, theoretical and empirical literature suggest that households' ability to borrow and save might provide a buffer protecting from food insecurity. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we tested whether liquidity constraint, asset inadequacy, and insolvency risk defined based on financial ratios could predict household food insecurity separately from the effects of income and program participation. Results showed that a household's liquidity constraint and asset inadequacy were linked with increased risk of food insecurity at all income levels, although the association was strongest among poor households and those with incomes slightly above the federal food assistance eligibility threshold. Unlike indications from qualitative literature, financial constraint appeared to be an exogenous determinant of household food insecurity. Implications for financial practitioners and policymakers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper makes the case that the pattern low-income families walk into is a present time-oriented or consumption-based welfare system, with attendant incentives and disincentives; in contrast, the pattern higher-income families walk into is future-oriented or asset-based. These two divergent systems do not deliver equitable educational outcomes for children. To ensure that higher education can play an equalizing role in the U.S. economy, the nation needs a better welfare system for the poor, one that builds on the asset-accumulation structures that serve the needs of advantaged families. This new institutional approach would undo the current system of educational advantages for higher-income children over low-income children and, in turn, redress educational inequalities in America. In order to create a level playing field welfare policies are needed that enable low-income families to accumulate assets. In this paper we discuss policies that might help low-income families accumulate assets, including modifications to existing income supports, as well as the development of complementary asset-based institutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines the association between asset poverty and happiness in urban China. Asset poverty refers to the insufficiency of assets to satisfy basic household needs for a limited period of time, and data come from a 2002 survey conducted as part of the Chinese Household Income Project. The findings suggest that asset poverty is negatively related to happiness. Asset poverty has a greater marginal effect on happiness among low-income households than among those with higher incomes. The association between asset poverty and happiness is partially mediated by precautionary savings, the household living standard, perceived fairness of the income distribution, and predicted future income. The study discusses the implications of the findings for developing asset-building programmes to improve happiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kim K-S, Kim YM. Asset poverty in Korea: levels and composition based on Wolff's definition The main purpose of the study was to lay the groundwork for establishing a more effective asset-building policy through accurate measurement and analysis of the level and composition of the asset-poor Korean population. We defined four asset poverty lines according to the concepts of basic needs, limited period of time and wealth-type resources from Wolff's operational definition. The size of the Korean asset-poor population, when considered from the perspectives of net assets and liquid assets, was found to remain around 12.7-13.2 and 32.8-36.5 per cent respectively. This study suggests that it is necessary to establish a differentiated asset-building policy by age group and to prepare more realistic alternatives to solve housing problems, while empirically verifying the need for an accurate asset poverty line which reflects the definition of asset poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Welfare Based on Assets, a Way to Smooth Out Economic Instability and Develop Children''s Human Capital is a four-part series of papers that focuses on the relationship between economic instability (i.e., income shocks, asset shocks, home loss, and asset poverty) and children''s human capital development. Collectively, these reports build on the compelling observation that the pattern low-income families walk into is a present time oriented or consumption based pattern of behavior; in contrast, the pattern higher income families walk into is future oriented or asset based. In the third paper we find in most cases income shocks and asset shocks do not appear to be harmful to children''s educational outcomes. However, children living in liquid and net worth asset poor families have lower academic achievement scores, high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, and college graduation rates than children living in families that are asset sufficient. Overall, findings can be interpreted as suggesting that a bifurcated welfare system, with income-based programs for poor families and asset-based programs for higher income families, may provide higher income families with an educational advantage over low-income families and might ultimately help exacerbate educational inequalities in America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Welfare Based on Assets, a Way to Smooth Out Economic Instability and Develop Children''s Human Capital is a four-part series of reports that focuses on the relationship between economic instability (i.e., income shocks, asset shocks, home loss, and asset poverty) and children''s human capital development. Collectively, these reports build on the compelling observation that the pattern low-income families walk into is a present time oriented or consumption based pattern of behavior; in contrast, the pattern higher income families walk into is future oriented or asset based. In this first paper we find that between 2005 and 2009 the probability of a low-income child living through an income shock is between 43% (major shock) and 55% (minor shock). In contrast, the chance of a high-income child experiencing an income shock is between 6% (major shock) and 15% (minor shock) during the same period. We also find that the probability that a child will experience a net worth asset shock close to doubles for a child living in a black or low-income family between 2005 and 2009 when compared to 2000 and 2004. Policy implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Although identifying household-level poverty dynamics would have important implications for poverty reduction policies empirical evidence is still scant. This paper employs a novel semiparametric panel data estimator that combines the advantages of estimation methods in the existing literature and applies it to a uniquely long panel data set to examine poverty dynamics in three villages in rural semi-arid India. Structural immobility is pervasive. The currently poor are likely to remain poor, suggesting a structural poverty trap. While all households face static asset holdings, higher castes, larger landholders, and more educated households are significantly less likely to be poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines factors related to a livestock rental market in western Nepal and assesses whether this market is associated with caste differentiation and land rental market participation. Theoretical models for asset-rich (i.e., high-caste) households, rich in land and livestock, and asset-poor (i.e., low-caste families) households are presented to provide logical explanations for the existence of a livestock rental market and the synergy between livestock and land rental markets participation. A combination of double hurdle models and bivariate-ordered probit models were used to test the implications of the models. Consistent with the theoretical models, land- and livestock-rich high-caste households were more likely to rent out land and/or livestock, whereas land- and livestock-poor and credit constrained low-caste households were more likely to rent livestock and land from others. Participation in the two markets was positively correlated, indicating a synergistic relationship that may be due to production and transaction costs reducing benefits. Policies that can enhance the allocative efficiency of livestock and land rental markets can improve equity as well as efficiency of land use in Nepal. Provision of livestock credit to land-poor low-caste households is also crucially dependent on their access to more long-term contracts for land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, millions of people exit American jails and prisons and attempt to reintegrate into society. Ex-offenders face many obstacles during the transition. Scholars contend that securing employment is central to a successful transition. A job that allows an ex-offender to earn an income above the poverty line is especially significant, recent studies have shown. Consequently, many prisoner reentry initiatives are focused on expanding employment opportunities for ex-offenders. However, the almost exclusive emphasis on employment as the measurement of economic well-being is short-sighted because it ignores the importance of financial education and asset ownership. Prisoner reentry programs should include an emphasis on financial education in addition to an emphasis on employment as a means of reducing recidivism rates and improving the economic well-being of the ex-offenders and receiving communities. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An important barrier to successful implementation of conservation–development initiatives by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is the problem of effective targeting (i.e., “with whom specifically should we work and why?”). In this paper, we demonstrate how two concepts—resource draw and economic reliance—provide the analytical means to improve targeting in tropical rain forests where protected areas often cover large, remote areas of forest with high biological diversity, and local populations are typically poor and settlements dispersed. Combining an “asset-based” conceptual approach to rural livelihoods and data from surveys conducted with forest peasant in the Pacaya–Samiria National Reserve area of Peru (n=263 households, eight villages), this study examines the empirical relations between the volume of extraction (draw) and the share of income (reliance) contributed by fishing, hunting, and resource extraction, as well as critical biological resources (moriche palm fruit, Mauritia flexuosa; paiche, Arapaima gigas; aquarium fish). Results indicate that resource draw can be highly concentrated among just a few households in selected villages, that economic reliance may or may not be associated with resource draw, and that the predictors of resource draw and reliance, such as land poverty, labour access, household lifecycle, or past experience, vary markedly across resource use activities. As such, our findings explicate heterogeneity in peasant forest resource use—pointing to the critical importance of differential household asset holdings—and challenge the prevailing assumption that asset poor households are the primary extractors of critical biological resources. Attention to differential patterns of resource use is crucial in the design of the next generation of conservation–development initiatives for tropical forests and rapid rural appraisal instruments can be readily refined to provide much needed information on resource draw and economic reliance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article explores the role of wealth and geographical factors in shaping livelihood strategies among forest peasant households in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve area of the Peruvian Amazon. Using household survey data (n = 251), the article shows significant livelihood heterogeneity, differential specialization in resource use, and variations in wealth portfolios across and within villages. Analyses of relationships among household wealth-resource use-income reveal: (1) a positive relationship between productive capital holding and fishing activity in land-poor villages; (2) a positive relationship between land holdings and agricultural activity in land-rich villages; and (3) higher incomes and reliance on resource extraction in land-middle villages where extractive activity is found to be negatively related to land holdings. Results suggest the role of geographical factors and nonphysical assets such as extractive skills in resource extraction. The potential value of wealth-based assessment instruments for rain forest conservation–development initiatives is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]