What did the global food, fuel, and financial crises of 2008-11 mean to people in the developing world? How did people cope? What help was available? To address these questions, a new book brings together community studies conducted during 2008-2011 in 17 countries, with eight case studies that illustrate how people in specific localities were impacted by global shocks and what coping mechanisms they used.

The book’s analysis of crisis impacts, coping responses, and sources of support indicates that while export-oriented formal sector workers were more vulnerable to the financial crisis, the impacts of the food price crisis were more widespread and severe; informal sector workers in particular struggled to cope and to recover. Much ‘resilience’ to these shocks owed to increased unpaid care work, typically by women. Common sources of assistance were family, friends, and community- and faith-based organizations: formal social protection and finance played minor roles.

Speaker: Rasmus Heltberg.