ABSTRACT
Fluctuations in economic activities are quite normal in market-based economies. But such fluctuations may become severe and take the form of crisis. Indeed, both the volatility of economic growth and the frequency of severe fluctuations in growth that warrant the use of the term crisis, appear to have increased during the decades of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s compared to the earlier decades. The concept of vulnerability is multidimensional and is used to describe situations or conditions influenced by a variety of factors like environment, natural calamities, economic fluctuations, etc. In development discourse, the term is usually used to indicate the possibility of individuals, households, or nations slipping into difficult situations. The notion of resilience can be conceptualized as the mirror opposite of vulnerability. It refers to the ability of a nation, household, or an individual to cope with the adverse effects of external shocks that may arise from various sources like environmental hazards, conflicts and war, economic crisis, etc.
