Starting from their policy implications and the underlying convergence controversy, this study investigates poverty traps in a West-Kenyan farming population producing African indigenous vegetables.
The empirical analyses consistently find no evidence for multi-equilibria poverty traps. A large share of households demonstrates high economic mobility from a dynamic perspective as found by constructing the poverty transition matrix using adapted FGT and AF methods. The functions generated by the estimated non-parametric and parametric regression models resemble a C-shape rather than an elongated S-shape, and only have a single stable equilibrium at low-to-moderate levels. Some tentative evidence of potential psychological and behavioural poverty traps is indicated, which is recommended for further study.