Lecture is 3 - 4 p.m. with a reception to follow 4 - 5 p.m.
Index insurance has emerged as financial tool to help low-wealth households manage shocks. Index insurance does not require costly verification of individual losses and hence can cover low-wealth individuals. With 70% of severe global poverty found in the rural areas of Africa and South Asia, we explore the role for index insurance in agricultural development and rural poverty reduction programs in these regions. First, we will review what we have so far learned about the effectivess of index insurance in assisting small-scale farmers as well as chronically poor women who benefit from asset- and income-building programs. Second, we will discuss rapidly evolving satellite and computational technologies frontier that can improve index insurance as well as the potential for other financial tools to help rural households manage climate risks.
Michael R Carter is Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis and Honorary Professor of Economics, University of Cape Town. He directs the BASIS Markets, Risk & Resilience Innovation Lab and the Resilience+ Innovation Facility. Author of numerous scientific publications, Carter’s current research projects examine poverty dynamics and productive social safety nets, evaluation of interventions to boost small farm uptake of improved technologies, and feature a suite of projects that design, pilot and evaluate index insurance contracts as mechanisms to alleviate chronic poverty and deepen agricultural and rural financial markets.
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