Drawing upon household surveys in Ecuador, Ghana and Karnataka, India, we analyse the relationship between assets and shocks, distinguishing between asset loss as the shock, and the use of assets as a coping strategy. A greater proportion of households experienced a direct loss of assets due to shocks than as a coping response. In Karnataka, but not in Ghana or Ecuador, women’s assets are more likely to be sold than men’s. Asset ownership and the decision to sell or pawn assets are fairly strongly related but do not completely overlap. Husbands and wives often differ in both the perception of shocks and the response to them.