Private Transfers, Informal Loans and Risk Sharing Among Poor Urban Households in Ethiopia
利用埃塞俄比亚城市家庭调查数据，研究私人转移支付和非正式贷款如何帮助贫困家庭应对收入波动，发现转移支付具有风险分担功能，而贷款主要用于平滑消费。
Abstract In this paper we examine how households in poor urban areas manage risks by use of transfers and loans. Compared to the sizeable literature dealing with the rural poor the literature on the urban poor is limited. This paper attempts to fill this gap by using household survey data from urban Ethiopia. We find that whereas both instruments – private transfers and informal loans – help households augment low and uncertain incomes, only transfers respond to observable signals of vulnerability, thus likely serving risk sharing purposes, while loans are largely dictated by household demand and resource proxies, therefore smoothing consumption though lacking the risk sharing property.