ABSTRACT
Estimating vulnerability is important in a high-growth emerging economy in which a million people have been lifted out of absolute poverty, although large proportions of the population remain highly vulnerable. The objective of this chapter is to present a basic methodology to estimate the evolution of vulnerability in China as well as to decompose vulnerability, using provincial level data from 1982 to 1999. Regional vulnerability is defined in this chapter as the risk to events in which a bad outcome could move the household into poverty on a regional level.1 This research analyzes the composition of the various assets (liquid assets, social service provisions in the health and education sectors, urbanization, industrial activities and political integration) and its impact on vulnerability. The methodology to estimates vulnerability builds on a previous research carried out by Chen and Schiere (2008).
