[2006] ESCOBAL, Javier; SUAREZ, Pablo; HUTTLY, Sharon; LANATA, Claudio F.; PENNY, Mary E.; VILLAR, Eliana. Does having a newborn child affect income diversification opportunities?: evidence from the peruvian young lives study. London: Young Lives. 32 p. Working paper, 24.

The ability of households to diversify their income sources is strongly related to their capacity to cope in times of pressure, such as during economic crises. This is particularly so among the poor, who often do not have adequate resources on which to draw when under such pressures.

Households with a newborn child face two constraints that might affect their income diversification potential. First, the income-generating capability of one of the members (the mother) may be constrained, and second, they often face additional expenditure requirements due to the presence of the new child. Very little is known about whether income diversification strategies are constrained for this group of households, but if they are then there may be implications for child wellbeing at a critical time for that child’s development and welfare. The Young Lives (YL) study in Peru provides an opportunity to investigate this issue.