Abstract
We examine shocks experienced by rural Nepali households during the COVID-19 pandemic. Households primarily experienced income and price shocks during a government-imposed lockdown. During this time, households managed to effectively protect consumption, and mostly relied on credit (26%), asset sales (10%) and savings (8%). Debt levels nearly doubled, with limited changes to savings. We then leverage a long-term randomized control trial (RCT) to assess whether beneficiaries of a livestock livelihood program are more resilient. Program beneficiaries are 6 percentage points less likely to take out new loans.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1941-1955 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2023 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- asset smoothing
- consumption smoothing
- coping
- credit
- savings
- shocks
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
- Economics and Econometrics