This study examines poor households’ vulnerability to idiosyncratic and covariate shocks in Pakistan. First, it observes households’ socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic factors that influence the incidence of shocks. Second, it examines households coping strategies adopted to mitigate the negative effects of these shocks. For this purpose, we have studied the shock patterns in poor households and examined the role of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in protecting these households against various shocks. Results indicate simultaneous exposure of idiosyncratic and covariate shocks to the targeted households. Moreover, with a low level of physical and financial assets owned by these households, they resort to coping strategies which are further damaging in nature. We also analyzed shock coping strategies of the sampled households and found that informal coping mechanisms are more prevalent among the poor households when hit by shocks. We have concluded that BISP is ineffective in protecting households in times of shocks and it is thus suggested that the transfers under this program should be generous in size and responsive to shocks in order to be an effective coping strategy for the poor.

本研究考察了巴基斯坦贫困家庭对特殊和协变量冲击的脆弱性。首先，它观察影响冲击发生率的家庭社会经济、人口和地理因素。其次，它考察了家庭为减轻这些冲击的负面影响而采取的应对策略。为此，我们研究了贫困家庭的冲击模式，并研究了 Benazir 收入支持计划 (BISP) 在保护这些家庭免受各种冲击方面的作用。结果表明目标家庭同时受到特殊和协变量冲击。此外，由于这些家庭拥有的实物和金融资产水平较低，他们采取了更具破坏性的应对策略。我们还分析了抽样家庭的冲击应对策略，发现在受到冲击时，非正式应对机制在贫困家庭中更为普遍。我们得出的结论是，BISP 在发生冲击时无法有效保护家庭，因此建议该计划下的转移支付规模应大，并对冲击做出反应，以便成为穷人的有效应对策略。