Recovery from the Ground Up

The qualitative findings presented in this report reveal that even where countries have been resilient and are returning to growth, the day-to-day costs of the 2009 economic crisis have been high for many households. Furthermore, where immediate impacts appear not to have been severe, the ongoing erosion of resilience has the potential to damage longer-term development prospects. Assessments of the impacts of the crisis and the resulting vulnerabilities cannot be based solely on macroeconomic indicators. Measures of countries’ overall economic output do tell a story, but one that is incomplete. To shed more light on what has actually been happening on the ground, this report draws on three kinds of evidence: limited and slowly emerging statistical data, projections and scenario work by major international organisations, and qualitative reports from both informed observers and the poor and vulnerable themselves.