Understanding Urban Chronic Poverty: Crossing the Qualitative and Quantitative Divide, CPRC Working Paper No. 53

Abstract

This paper summarises the recent quantitative and qualitative evidence on urban poverty in Ethiopia. The analysis of poverty dynamics is difficult and has been neglected, hence most of the studies reviewed here focus on urban poverty at a particular point in time. The paper also attempts to discuss in some detail what little evidence exists on urban chronic poverty. We discuss the consistency of findings across studies which use different methodological approaches and consider key correlates or dimensions of poverty such as livelihood insecurity, gender, income/total household expenditure, prices and HIV/AIDS. Finally, the study identifies the emerging research agenda, future research strategy and activities. Since most of the studies reviewed are static in nature, it is suggested that future research should focus on the analysis of household welfare in a dynamic sense. The studies reviewed in this paper come from a variety of sources. Academics, NGOs, independent research institutions, World Bank country poverty economists and other poverty consultants presented papers. Given this and the differences in their methodological approaches to the study of urban poverty, it is particularly encouraging to see an overlap of research agendas and consistency of findings on key correlates of urban poverty and its trend