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on Development |
| By: | Michael R. Carter; Rachid Laajaj; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | We report the results of a randomized experiment testing impacts of subsidies for modern agricultural inputs in rural Mozambique. One-time provision of a voucher for fertilizer and improved seeds leads to substantial increases in fertilizer use, which persist through two subsequent agricultural seasons. Voucher receipt also leads to large, persistent increases in household agricultural production and market sales, per capita consumption, assets, durable good ownership, and housing improvements. Consistent with learning models of the adoption decision, we find positive treatment effects on farmers' estimated returns to the input package. We also document positive cross-household treatment spillovers: one's own fertilizer use rises in the number of social network members receiving vouchers. Our findings are consistent with theoretical models predicting persistence of impacts of temporary technology adoption subsidies, in particular due to learning effects. |
| JEL: | O13 O16 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20465&r=dev |
| By: | Oriana Bandiera; Niklas Buehren; Robin Burgess; Markus Goldstein; Selim Gulesci; Imran Rasul; Munshi Sulaiman |
| Abstract: | Women in developing countries are disempowered relative to their contemporaries in developed countries. High youth unemployment and early marriage and childbearing interact to limit human capital investment and enforce dependence on men. In this paper we evaluate an attempt to jump-start adolescent women’s empowerment in the world’s second youngest country: Uganda. In this two-pronged intervention, adolescent girls are simultaneously provided vocational training and information on sex, reproduction and marriage. Relative to adolescents in control communities, after two years the intervention raises the likelihood that girls engage in income generating activities by 72% (mainly driven by increased participation in self-employment), and raises their monthly consumption expenditures by 41%. Teen pregnancy falls by 26%, and early entry into marriage/cohabitation falls by 58%. Strikingly, the share of girls reporting sex against their will drops from 14% to almost half that level and preferred ages of marriage and childbearing both move forward. The findings indicate that women’s economic and social empowerment can be jump-started through the combined provision of vocational and life skills, and is not necessarily held back by insurmountable constraints arising from binding social norms. |
| JEL: | I25 J13 J24 O12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2014-30&r=dev |
| By: | Miranda, Juan Jose; Corral, Leonardo; Blackman, Allen (Resources for the Future); Asner, Gregory; Lima, Eirivelthon |
| Abstract: | Protected areas are a cornerstone of forest conservation in developing countries. Yet we know little about their effects on forest cover change or the socioeconomic status of local communities, and even less about the relationship between these effects. This paper assesses whether “win-win” scenarios are possible—that is, whether protected areas can both stem forest cover change and alleviate poverty. We examine protected areas in the Peruvian Amazon using high-resolution satellite images and household-level survey data for the early 2000s. To control for protected areas’ nonrandom siting, we rely on quasi-experimental (matching) methods. We find that the average protected area reduces forest cover change. We do not find a robust negative effect on local communities. Protected areas that allow sustainable extractive activities are more effective in reducing forest cover change but less effective in delivering win-win outcomes. |
| Keywords: | conservation, deforestation, protected areas, poverty, land use, land conservation |
| JEL: | Q56 Q23 Q24 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2014–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-14-14-efd&r=dev |
| By: | Gilligan, Daniel; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini; Schwab, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | Aid agencies often provide transfers in food rather than cash out of a paternalistic belief that food transfers will better improve household food security. However, evidence from Latin America shows that cash transfers often increase the share of food in consumption, counter to Engel’s Law. This finding suggests households treat transfer income differently, with previous literature arguing that transfers shift intrahousehold bargaining. Until now, there has been little rigorous evidence on how the effects of transfers on food consumption patterns differ by context or by transfer modality. We use experimental data from three countries, Ecuador, Uganda and Yemen, to test the relative impact of food transfers and cash transfers (and vouchers in Ecuador) on the food share of consumption, food Engel curves, and the composition of food consumption. We find that, in all three countries, there are no significant differences by modality in the impacts of transfers on overall food share or food Engel curves. In particular, in Ecuador, transfers in the form of food, cash, or vouchers all increase the share of food in total consumption, representing outward shifts of the food Engel curves, but there are no significant differences by modality in these shifts. In Uganda, neither food nor cash significantly changes the food share of consumption. In Yemen, there is also no significant difference in Engel curves between food and cash beneficiaries. However, we find in all three countries that there are differences by modality in impacts on the composition of food consumption. In two of the three countries, food transfers lead to increased food group shares of the items included in the food ration, and in all three countries, cash transfers lead to larger improvements in dietary diversity. We find no evidence of changes in intrahousehold bargaining power due to any transfer modality in all three countries, suggesting another factor may be responsible for shifting Engel curves in Ecuador. |
| Keywords: | Transfers, Consumption, Engel Curve, Food aid, Cash transfers, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, D12, J16, O12, |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:171159&r=dev |
| By: | Bah, Adama; Bazzi, Samuel; Sumarto, Sudarno; Tobias, Julia |
| Abstract: | Centralised targeting registries are increasingly used to allocate social assistance benefits in developing countries. This paper provides the first attempt to identify the relative importance of two key design issues for targeting accuracy: (1) which households to survey for inclusion in the targeting registry and (2) how to rank surveyed households. We evaluate the performance of Indonesia’s Unified Database for Social Protection Programmes (UDB), the largest targeting registry in the world, which is used to provide social assistance to more than 25 million households. Linking administrative data with an independent household survey, we find that the UDB system is more progressive than previous targeting approaches used in Indonesia, leading to a decrease in benefit leakage to non-poor households. However, if poor households are not surveyed in the first place, even a perfect ranking method cannot prevent their exclusion. Under a simulation that considers enumerating and estimating proxy-means testing (PMT) scores for all households (as in a census), we estimate a one-third decrease in undercoverage compared to focusing on households that have been registered in the UDB. Investigating household- and community-level correlates of misenumeration and misclassification, we find evidence that local communities use different definitions of poverty and have better information on the welfare status of their members. |
| Keywords: | Targeting, Proxy-Means Testing, Social Protection, Poverty |
| JEL: | D1 I3 I38 |
| Date: | 2014–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59759&r=dev |
| By: | Aurore Gary (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne); Mathilde Maurel (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | The literature has shown that aid and trade or aid and migration are not independent from each other: aid can be provided for relaxing migration pressures or donors can tie aid in order to increase their exports to developing countries. This finding can be generalized to other donors' policies: investment, technology, environment, security policies and it must be incorporated in the way aid effectiveness is assessed. The effect of aid can be dampened of enhanced, depending on whether aid is a substitute or a complement for other policies. In other words, donors should be consistent to be efficient. Taking advantage of CGD indices, this paper estimate growth equations by controlling for consistency. We estimate a robust and significant positive effect of donors' policy coherence from 22 DAC donors on the economic growth in developing countries. A one standard deviation increase in consistency changes results in an increase in economic growth in developing countries of 14%. |
| Keywords: | Development aid; complementarity; economic growth |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00825816&r=dev |
| By: | Tambo, Justice A.; Wünscher, Tobias |
| Abstract: | With the rapidly changing economic environments and numerous challenges hindering smallholders’ adoption of externally developed technologies, it is often argued that farmers’ innovations may be essential in the livelihoods of rural farm households and need to be promoted. Yet a rigorous assessment of the impacts of farmer innovation is lacking. Consequently, we analyse the effect of farmer innovation on household welfare, measured by farm and household income, consumption expenditure and food security. Using data from a recent field survey of rural farm households in northern Ghana and endogenous switching regression which controls for non-random selection bias, we estimate the welfare gains for innovators from innovating, and non-innovators had they innovated. We find that farmer innovation significantly improves both household income and consumption expenditure for innovators. It also contributes significantly to the reduction of food insecurity among innovative households by increasing household food consumption expenditure, reducing the length of food shortages, and decreasing the severity of hunger. However, we find that the positive productivity and income effects of farmer innovation do not significantly translate into nutritious diet, measured by household dietary diversity. The results also indicate that farmer innovation would have heterogeneous welfare effects for non-innovators, had they decided to innovate. Overall, our results show positive and significant welfare effects of farmer innovation, hence, support increasing arguments on the need to promote farmer innovation as a complement to externally promoted technologies in food security and poverty reduction efforts. |
| Keywords: | Farmer innovation, Endogenous switching regression, Ghana, Household welfare, Impact assessment, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170087&r=dev |
| By: | Ambrosius, Christian; Cuecuecha, Alfredo |
| Abstract: | While recent literature has pointed out that migrants´ remittances have a positive impact on savings with financial institutions, findings with respect to access to and the use of loans have been ambiguous. This paper investigates whether the reception of remittances facilitates taking up loans from formal or informal sources among Mexican households and finds positive and statistically significant effects of remittances on borrowing and on the existence of debts. We address methodological concerns of selection bias and reverse causality through household fixed effects and an instrumental strategy that exploits distance to train lines and labor market conditions in the US as exogenous determinants of remittances. |
| JEL: | F24 D14 I15 O12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201419&r=dev |
| By: | Monica Beuran (World Bank - Washington District of Columbia (United States)); Marie Castaing Gachassin (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne); Gaël Raballand (World Bank - Washington District of Columbia (United States)) |
| Abstract: | As planned large investments in road infrastructure continue to be high on the agenda of many African countries, only few of these countries have actually ammended their investments strategy. In many cases, there seems to be a preference for a status quo that can easily be explained by political economy factors driving the policies in the sector. This paper first presents data on the state of roads in Sub-Saharan Africa (length, density, condition) as well as on investments in the sector over the last decades. It then demonstrates how most countries' strategies are based on some misperceptions and recommends some changes to improve the developmental impact of roads investments. Better prioritization of investments, better procurement and contract management, better projects implementation and better monitoring are still needed, in spite of the efforts observed in the last 10 years. |
| Keywords: | Transport; roads; Sub-Saharan Africa; strategy; infrastructure; procurement |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00830006&r=dev |
| By: | Vieider, Ferdinand M.; Beyene, Abebe; Bluffstone, Randall; Dissanayake, Sahan; Gebreegziabher, Zenebe; Martinsson, Peter; Mekonnen, Alemu |
| Abstract: | Risk aversion has generally been found to decrease in income or wealth. This may lead one to expect that poor countries will be more risk averse than rich countries. Recent comparative findings with students, however, suggest the opposite, giving rise to a riskincome paradox. We test this paradox by measuring the risk preferences of over 500 household heads spread over the highlands of Ethiopia. We do so using certainty equivalents, which have rarely been used in developing countries, but permit us to relate the findings to a host of evidence from the West. We find high degrees of risk tolerance, in agreement with the student comparisons finding higher risk tolerance in poorer countries. We also find risk tolerance to increase in income proxies, thus completing the paradox. We thereby use income proxies that can be considered as exogenous, allowing us to conclude that at least part of the causality must run from income to risk tolerance. We furthermore provide extensive methodological discussions on measuring and estimating risk preferences in development settings. |
| Keywords: | risk preferences,development,experimental methodology |
| JEL: | C93 D03 D80 O12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbrad:spii2014401&r=dev |
| By: | Yuko Nakano (University of Tsukuba); Yuki Tanaka (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies); Keijiro Otsuka (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of training provided by a large-scale private farm on the performance of surrounding small-scale rice farmers in a rain-fed area in Tanzania. We found that the training effectively enhances the adoption of improved rice cultivation practices, paddy yield, and profit of rice cultivation by small-holder farmers. In fact, the trainees achieve paddy yield of 5 tons per hectare on average, which is remarkably high for rain-fed rice cultivation. Our results suggest high potential of small-scale rain-fed lowland rice cultivation and extension services by private large scale farms. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:14-21&r=dev |
| By: | Andrea Vaona (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Natalia Magnani (University of Trento, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale) |
| Abstract: | The case study literature on access to electricity highlighted a number of socio-economic variables linked to it. The purpose of our research is to check whether these variables also show up in panel data/cross-country regressions and to assess their relative strength. Our results support the widespread belief that electrification plans in developing countries should target rural areas and extensively rely on renewable energy sources. They should also be accompanied by measures fostering human capital accumulation and the involvement of local population. These general results need to be gauged within each country's specific context, carefully considering its own complexities. Therefore, our results complement, rather than substitute the available case study literature. |
| Keywords: | electricity access, panel data regression, socio-economic variables, developing countries. |
| JEL: | Q01 Q29 Q39 Q42 O10 O50 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:15/2014&r=dev |
| By: | Jessoe, Katrina; Manning, Dale; Taylor, J. Edward |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of annual fluctuations in temperature and precipitation on labor allocation in rural Mexico. We use a 28-year panel of individuals to investigate how people adjust their sector and location of work in response to year-to-year variation in weather. Controlling for state-year and individual fixed effects, we find that individuals are less likely to work locally in years with a high occurrence of extreme heat. This reduction in labor occurs for both agricultural and non-agricultural jobs, with larger reductions among wage workers. Extreme heat early in the year or for individuals located close to the U.S. border increases the likelihood that individuals respond by migrating to the United States. Under two medium-emissions climate change scenarios, our results imply that increased temperatures will lead to a 1.2-3% decrease in local employment and a 1-2% increase in domestic migration from rural to urban areas. These results provide an important example of how climate change could impact rural labor markets in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | climate change, weather, rural employment, migration, Mexico, Environmental Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170556&r=dev |
| By: | Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah; Sabah, Md Nasim-Us Sabah; Enemark, Ulrika |
| Abstract: | Objectives: This study investigates how socioeconomic status and demographic factors determine child malnutrition as well as how these determinants account for socioeconomic inequality in child malnutrition during the period of 2007-2011 in Bangladesh. Methods: The dataset of this study originates from two cross sectional rounds (2007 and 2011) of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). We use standard ordinary least square (OLS) models to estimate the determinants of child malnutrition. We measure the contribution of each factor by combining decomposition and regression analysis methods. Results: Household wealth status, parental education and breast feeding were the significant determinants of child malnutrition in Bangladesh. The concentration index for 2007 is -0.086(standard error: 0.007) while it is -0.098 (standard error: 0.004) for 2011. Wealth status accounted for about 52% of socioeconomic inequality in 2007 whereas it was about 58% in 2011. Conclusions: Absolute level of child malnutrition decreased from 2007 to 2011 but socioeconomic inequality increased during this period. Children from the poorest household bear the burden of undernourishment more than those from the wealthiest household in Bangladesh. |
| Keywords: | Child malnutrition, socioeconomic inequality, concentration index, decomposition analysis. |
| JEL: | I14 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2014–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59643&r=dev |
| By: | Shiratori, Sakiko |
| Abstract: | Reducing child malnutrition is one of the most important development goals. This study adopts a quantile regression approach to estimate the socioeconomic determinants of a child’s nutritional status and to explore for whom policy intervention matter the most. Using the data of children under five in Tanzania, the effects of several variables on child’s height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and hemoglobin level are examined. HAZ is influenced by age, sex, preceding birth interval, mother’s height and body-mass-index (BMI), and wealth, among others. The results from quantile regressions suggest that the intervention to improve mother’s education, especially higher than primary school, is effective to reduce the child’s malnutrition at the lower end of distribution. The interventions to upgrade drinking water or toilet facilities may not be sufficient in raising malnourished child’s nutritional status. Hemoglobin level is influenced by age, sex, mother’s hemoglobin level, parental education, and household size, among others. Conditional distributions make little difference with regard to hemoglobin level. Since common interventions of deworming or sleeping under the net are not significant, other interventions such as nutritional ones might be more effective for reducing anemia. 3 Large effects of mother’s nutritional status on child’s nutritional status imply that malnutrition is handed down from one generation to another, which could keep children trapped in the cycle of poverty. It would be effective to carefully integrate applicable interventions according to the objective and target population in order for wellbeing of individuals and for the development of the country. |
| Keywords: | Anemia, Child Nutrition, Intervention, Malnutrition, Quantile Regression, Stunting, Tanzania, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170304&r=dev |
| By: | McKenzie, David (World Bank); Yang, Dean (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | International migration offers individuals and their families the potential to experience immediate and large gains in their incomes, and offers a large number of other positive benefits to the sending communities and countries. However, there are also concerns about potential costs of migration, including concerns about trafficking and human rights, a desire for remittances to be used more effectively, and concerns about externalities from skilled workers being lost. As a result there is increasing interest in policies which can enhance the development benefits of international migration and mitigate these potential costs. We provide a critical review of recent research on the effectiveness of these policies at three stages of the migration process: pre-departure, during migration, and directed towards possible return. The existing evidence base suggests some areas of policy success: bilateral migration agreements for countries whose workers have few other migration options, developing new savings and remittance products that allow migrants more control over how their money is used, and some efforts to provide financial education to migrants and their families. Suggestive evidence together with theory offers support for a number of other policies, such as lowering the cost of remittances, reducing passport costs, offering dual citizenship, and removing exit barriers to migration. Research offers reasons to be cautious about some policies such as enforcing strong rights for migrants like high minimum wages. Nevertheless, we find the evidence base to be weak for many policies, with no reliable research on the impact of most return migration programs, nor for whether countries should be trying to induce communal remitting through matching funds. |
| Keywords: | migration policy, remittances, return migration, impact evaluation |
| JEL: | O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8523&r=dev |
| By: | Heath, Rachel (University of Washington); Mobarak, A. Mushfiq (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of explosive growth in the Bangladeshi ready-made garments industry on the lives on Bangladeshi women. We compare the marriage, childbearing, school enrollment and employment decisions of women who gain greater access to garment sector jobs to women living further away from factories, to years before the factories arrive close to some villages, and to the marriage and enrollment decisions of their male siblings. Girls exposed to the garment sector delay marriage and childbirth. This stems from (a) young girls becoming more likely to be enrolled in school after garment jobs (which reward literacy and numeracy) arrive, and (b) older girls becoming more likely to be employed outside the home in garment-proximate villages. The demand for education generated through manufacturing growth appears to have a much larger effect on female educational attainment compared to a large-scale government conditional cash transfer program to encourage female schooling. |
| Keywords: | ready-made garment exports, Bangladesh, marriage, fertility, schooling |
| JEL: | O12 F16 I25 J23 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8483&r=dev |
| By: | Maitra, Pushkar (Monash University); Mani, Subha (Fordham University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the treatment effects from participating in a subsidized vocational training program targeted at women residing in low-income households in India. We combine pre-intervention data with two rounds of post-intervention data from a randomized field experiment to quantify the 6- and 18-month treatment effects of the program. The 6-month effects of the program indicate that women who were offered the training program are 6 percentage points more likely to be employed, 4 percentage points more likely to be self-employed, work 2.5 additional hours per week, and earn 150 percent more per month than women in the control group. Using a second round of follow-up data collected 18 months after the intervention, we find that the 6-month treatment effects are all sustained over this period. Our findings indicate credit constraints, distance, and lack of proper child care support as important barriers to program completion. Further, we also rule out two alternative mechanisms – signalling and behavior that could drive these findings. Finally, a simple cost-benefit analysis suggests that the program is highly cost-effective. |
| Keywords: | vocational training, panel data, India, economic returns, field experiment |
| JEL: | I21 J19 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8552&r=dev |
| By: | Tandon, Sharad |
| Abstract: | World grains prices dramatically increased between 2007 and 2008, but rice prices especially surged. Utilizing the much larger spike in rice prices than in wheat, this article compares the response of Indian households consuming rice as the staple grain to households consuming wheat. Households worse affected by the crisis sacrificed diet diversity, spent less on labor-saving durable goods, sent fewer children to school, and increased the amount of children performing domestic work. These results demonstrate a direct link between food insecurity and human capital investments, and suggest significant non-health costs to the rising food prices of the past two decades. |
| Keywords: | World Food Price Crisis, Education, Nutrition, India, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, D12, I25, J24, O12, O53, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169751&r=dev |
| By: | Backiny-Yetna, Prospere; Steele, Diane; Djima, Ismael Yacoubou |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of three methodologies of food data collection on the welfare distribution, and poverty and inequality measures in Niger. The first methodology is a 7-day recall period, the second one is a usual month, and the third one is a 7-day diary. The paper finds that there is a difference in the distribution of welfare between, on the one hand, the two first methodologies (7-day recall and a usual month, which give results close to each other) and, on the other hand, the 7-day diary method. When considering annual per capita consumption, the 7-day diary lags the 7-day recall by 28 percent. This gap is not only at the mean of the distribution, it has been found at any level. These differences lead to differences in poverty and inequality measures even when alternate poverty lines are used. This study underscores the problem that many developing countries face when it comes to monitoring poverty indicators over time where different methodologies have been used over the years. |
| Keywords: | Food&Beverage Industry,Regional Economic Development,Rural Poverty Reduction,Poverty Lines |
| Date: | 2014–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7090&r=dev |