Building Resilience in Times of Crisis ( <scp>SDG</scp> 1.5): Shock Exposure Among Immigrant and Internally Displaced Fishing Households in Cameroon

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study contributes to the literature by providing the first empirical assessment of how resilience capacities shape shock exposure among artisanal fishing households in Cameroon, distinguishing between internally displaced and immigrant populations. It introduces a novel application of the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to capture selection dynamics across displacement status while jointly examining multiple dimensions of vulnerability. By integrating mediation analysis, the study further uncovers how engagement in the formal fishery sector strengthens the resilience–vulnerability linkage. The analysis covers 511 households across 25 fishing communities. The findings reveal that the resilience capacity of households in the Cameroon fishing communities reduces their exposure to shocks throughout the conditional distribution of the vulnerability index. Households' resilience capacity remains robust in reducing exposure to shocks and consistent for the internally displaced and immigrant households in the endogenous switching model. Further analysis suggests that resilience capacity reduces health vulnerabilities, exposures to food insecurity crises, and environmental shocks, but remains insufficient for curbing vulnerabilities to economic shocks. The indirect mediation analysis findings show a significant reduction in households' vulnerability to shocks when the formal sector interacts with households' resilience capacity. This is consistent across the Delta, Sobel, and Monte‐Carlo tests. Policies are further discussed.