Reducing Global Poverty: The Case for Asset Accumulation

319 Pages·2007·4.53 MB·English

by  Caroline O. N. Moser

CAROLINE O(cid:1).N. MOSER, EDITOR
REDUCING GLOBAL POVERTY
t h e c a s e f o r a s s e t ac c u m u l at i o n
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reducing
global
poverty
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reducing
global
poverty
The Case for Asset Accumulation
caroline moser
Editor
brookings institution press
Washington, D.C.
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Copyright © 2007
the brookings institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
www.brookings.edu
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the
Brookings Institution Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Reducing global poverty : the case for asset accumulation / Caroline O. N. Moser, editor.
p. cm.
This volume grew out of the Brookings Institution–Ford Foundation Workshop on
Asset-Based Approaches to Poverty Reduction in a Globalized Context, held in
Washington, D.C., on June 27–28, 2006, led by Caroline Moser and co-hosted by the
Ford Foundation.
Summary: “Provides a set of case studies of asset-building projects around the globe
aimed at designing and implementing public policies that will increase the capital assets
of the poor. Highlights the ways in which poor households and communities can move
out of poverty through longer-term accumulation of capital assets”—Provided by
publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8157-5857-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8157-5857-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Poverty—Developing countries—Congresses. 2. Poverty—Government policy—
Developing countries—Congresses. 3. Poor—Developing countries—Finance,
Personal—Congresses. 4. Developing countries—Social policy—Congresses.
5. Microfinance—Developing countries—Congresses. I. Moser, Caroline O. N. II. Title.
HC59.72.P6R427 2007
339.4'6091724—dc22 2007007720
987654321
The paper used in this publication meets minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials: ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
Composition by Peter Lindeman
Arlington, Virginia
Printed by R. R. Donnelley
Harrisonburg, Virginia
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Contents
Foreword vii
Lael Brainard and Pablo Farias
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
Caroline Moser
Part One: Lessons from Research
2 Intergenerational Asset Accumulation and Poverty Reduction in 15
Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1978–2004
Caroline Moser and Andrew Felton
3 Learning from Asset-Based Approaches to Poverty 51
Michael R. Carter
4 The Stages-of-Progress Methodology and Results from Five Countries 62
Anirudh Krishna
Part Two: Asset Policy—Social Protection or Asset Accumulation Policy?
5 Asset Accumulation Policy and Poverty Reduction 83
Caroline Moser
6 Addressing Vulnerability through Asset Building 104
and Social Protection
Sarah Cook
v
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vi Contents
7 Social Protection and Asset Accumulation by the Middle Class 122
and the Poor in Latin America
Andrés Solimano
Part Three: Asset Accumulation and Consolidation in Practice
8 Building Natural Resource–Based Assets in Southern Africa: 137
Workable Scenarios
Paula Nimpuno-Parente
9 Protecting Land Rights in Post-Tsunami and Postconflict 149
Aceh, Indonesia
Lilianne Fan
10 Hurricane Katrina: Impact on Assets and Asset-Building 167
Approaches to Poverty Reduction
Amy Liu
11 Gangs, Violence, and Asset Building 179
Dennis Rodgers
12 Beyond Microfinance 196
Vijay Mahajan
13 Using Microinsurance and Financial Education to 208
Protect and Accumulate Assets
Monique Cohen and Pamela Young
14 Migrant Foreign Savings and Asset Accumulation 225
Manuel Orozco
15 Transnational Communities of the United States and 239
Latin America
Héctor Cordero-Guzmán and Victoria Quiroz-Becerra
16 Gender and Transnational Asset Accumulation in El Salvador 255
Sarah Gammage
17 Claiming Rights: Citizenship and the Politics of Asset Distribution 273
Clare Ferguson, Caroline Moser, and Andy Norton
Contributors 289
Index 291
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Foreword
A
sset-based approaches in development focus on how the poor use their
resource base to develop strategies for acquiring, mobilizing, expanding,
and preserving their assets. The asset accumulation approach addresses important
shortcomings in income- or consumption-focused poverty reduction strategies by
emphasizing the way the poor themselves establish a base of resources under their
control. Over time they can mobilize this base to generate income, produce addi-
tional resources, and transfer resources across generations to broaden opportuni-
ties for their children. Ownership and effective mobilization of assets help estab-
lish personal and family security and encourage risk taking and diversification of
productive and social activities. By focusing on the resources and capacities of
those living in poverty, asset-based approaches address inequality in resource
endowments and access to opportunity, providing a concrete way to measure
empowerment and ultimately sustainable reduction of poverty.
This volume surveys emerging research projects, policies, and programs from
around the world on the topic of asset-based approaches to poverty reduction,
and explores efforts and impacts. The volume grew out of a workshop held at
the Brookings Institution in the summer of 2006, led by Visiting Fellow Caro-
line Moser, and includes papers from the key contributors to the field.
In preparation for the workshop at Brookings, Moser developed an updated
conceptual review of asset-based approaches that led to participant reflections
on the role of assets in a broad set of development strategies and socioeconomic
settings. The result is this volume, which goes beyond traditional analysis to
explore an expanded agenda for the asset accumulation field, including identify-
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viii Foreword
ing areas of collaboration with rights-based approaches; linkages with work in
settings of entrenched poverty, such as postdisaster and fragile state contexts;
and the relation of asset accumulation to key development processes of market
expansion and migration.
The Ford Foundation cohosted the conference with Brookings, bringing its
expertise from more than a decade of work with poverty reduction programs in
the United States and internationally that focuses on asset building and commu-
nity development. For example, in the United States, the Ford Foundation has
shown how building lifelong savings and expanding access to home ownership can
reduce poverty. Similarly, work in diverse countries such as India, Indonesia,
China, South Africa, Kenya, Mexico, and Guatemala demonstrates how imple-
menting new systems of community forest management can expand the asset base
of natural resource–dependent communities and generate sustainable livelihoods.
Furthermore, Ford’s support of microfinance models in these types of settings and
others underscores the importance of access to financial services as another key
component of successful asset accumulation and poverty reduction strategies. In
sum, these efforts demonstrate the critical role social and economic asset building
plays in advancing equity and sustainability as part of poverty reduction.
At Brookings the Global Economy and Development Program explores the
asset-based approach to poverty reduction as part of a spectrum of globalization
issues. From international trade to global pandemics and environmental chal-
lenges, this program examines how the new inputs, outputs, and pressure points
of globalization can affect the world’s poor and how policymakers should
respond based on independent research results, like those detailed in this volume.
Overall, this volume fuses these perspectives and represents an opportunity
to stimulate dialogue on poverty reduction and to highlight the importance of a
dynamic focus on the participation, resource mobilization, and access to oppor-
tunity of those living in poverty.
Lael Brainard
Vice President and Director
Global Economy and Development
Program
Brookings Institution
Pablo Farias
Vice President
Asset Building and Community
Development Program
Ford Foundation
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Acknowledgments
T
his book, and the associated research and workshop on which it is based,
was undertaken with support from a grant from the Asset Building and
Community Development Program of the Ford Foundation. I would like to
gratefully acknowledge vice president Pablo Farias for his sustained commit-
ment to and support of the development of this work on asset-based approaches
to poverty reduction.
Lael Brainard, Brookings vice president and director of the Global Economy
and Development program, gave me the opportunity to undertake this work as
a visiting fellow. At the Ford Foundation, Carl Anthony, Frank de Giovanni,
Miguel Garcia, and Suzanne Siskell provided invaluable assistance in identifying
workshop participants. In addition, I would like to thank Monique Cohen,
Michael Carter, Anis Dani, Andrew Felton, Clare Ferguson, Estanislao Gacitua-
Mario, Andrew Norton, Alison Scott, Michael Sherraden, and Peter Sollis for
their generous support at different stages of this endeavor.
Kathryn Lankester kindly offered essential assistance in organizing the work-
shop and a complementary one undertaken in Quito, Ecuador. The editorial
work of Yvonne Byron Smith, Diane Hammond, and Starr Belsky is gratefully
recognized. In the Brookings Institution Press, Janet Walker has been invaluable
in negotiating this book through the production process. The dedicated edito-
rial and management assistance of James Pickett throughout the entire process
made the completion of this book possible.
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