Toward Measuring Household Vulnerability to Income Poverty in the Philippines

The measurement of vulnerability, as in the probability that a household becomes poor, is concomitant to the analysis of poverty. To estimate households' vulnerability to income poverty, this study used a modified probit model that considers volatilities in income per capita as explained by some household characteristics. Resulting vulnerability estimates were found to be higher than poverty rates, suggesting that policy interventions will have to be developed to minimize the risk which households face in becoming income poor, or at least help them to mitigate the impact of their becoming poor.