Publication Details

An overview of Chronic Poverty and Development Policy in Uganda

John Okidi
Gloria Mugambe
2002

Abstract

The paper highlights Uganda’s main antipoverty programs and uses consumption expenditure data of panel households to characterize chronic poverty by tracking households’ poverty statuses over time. Although the majority of households moved into and out of poverty during the 1990s, all the panel households that experienced persistent poverty for at least five years were engaged in agricultural self-employment as the main economic activity. This evidence underscores the importance of off-farm opportunities in poverty reduction. The results showing that households which are far below the poverty line (for example, the poorest 20%) are the most likely to experience extended duration of poverty suggest that the chronically poor may not benefit much from Uganda’s economic growth programs, which primarily aim at creating an enabling environment for economic agents to exploit using their initial endowment of capabilities.

Publication Type(s)

CPRC Working Paper

Keywords

agriculture policy growth Uganda data remote rural areas life history

ISBN: 1-904049-03-6

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