Asset-based poverty traps in Africa

This project builds on a relatively new literature which uses panel data to investigate the dynamics of poverty. The key questions is whether there is some asset threshold below which a household is unable to exit poverty. For example, Carter and Barret (2006) distinguish between deep-rooted, persistent structural poverty and poverty that passes naturally with time due to systematic growth processes. This project will draw on the economic theory of poverty traps to develop feasible estimation strategies.