No . 2003 / 09 Food Aid and Informal Insurance

Food Aid and Informal Insurance

Households in developing countries use a variety of informal mechanisms to cope with risk, including mutual support and risk-sharing. These mechanisms cannot avoid that they remain vulnerable to shocks. Public programs in the form of food aid distribution and food-for-work programs are meant to protect vulnerable households from consumption and nutrition downturns by providing a safety net. In ...

Informal insurance, public transfers and consumption smoothing

In many developing countries, public programs in the form of food aid distribution and food-for-work programs are often meant to protect vulnerable households from consumption and nutrition downturns by providing a safety net. Few studies have evaluated the impact of these programs. Furthermore, households often use a variety of informal mechanisms to cope with risk, including mutual support an...

Food Aid’s Intended and Unintended Consequences

This paper surveys the existing empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of food aid. Micro-level evidence is presented on the impacts of food aid deliveries on household labour supply, production incentives, consumption patterns and natural resource use. At the meso-level, evidence on the impact of food aid on market development, market prices, informal insurance arrangements, and the...

Informal Insurance, Enforcement Constraints, and Group Formation

Expanding health insurance scheme in the informal sector in Nigeria: awareness as a potential demand-side tool

INTRODUCTION The implementation and expansion of a health insurance scheme in the informal sector, particularly in developing countries, is a challenge. With the aid of an innovative Information-Education and Communication model, titled 'Understanding the concept of health insurance: An innovative social marketing tool', an assessment of the awareness and perception of the scheme among market w...