Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic imposes not only a global health threat but also an economic shutdown in many countries. Such a shock poses a particularly large risk for the poor in developing countries who often have highly vulnerable income sources, limited savings, and a lack of adequate safety nets to fall back on. Self-employment and access to credit might affect the ability of households to mitigate, cope with, and recover from an aggregate shock. In this research, we will conduct telephone surveys with a sample of 2,035 female entrepreneurs in rural Paraguay and 2,711 farmers and business owners in rural Myanmar to provide evidence on whether self-employment and access to credit affect households’ resilience to cope with the consequences of COVID-19. 

Respondent Population Characteristics

Adults, Rural only, Farmers, Small and medium business owners

Project Data Collection Mode

Researchers (*corresponding author)

Nathan Fiala, Lise Masselus

Questionnaire File Type

Reader-friendly survey instrument

Questionnaire Language(s)

English

Questionnaire Stage

Data Collection Completed