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on Development |
| By: | Regmi, Madhav ; Paudel, Krishna ; Mishra, Ashok |
| Abstract: | We assessed the food security situation in Bangladesh based on 2011-2012 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey data using two commonly measured indicators: Food Consumption Score (FCS) and Household Hunger Scale (HHS). Results obtained from ordered probit regression models indicated that remittances play an important role to improve the food security of a household. Other significant variables in the model were wage earn outside of farm, male operated household, remittance, and literacy. Increasing income from other than the agriculture sector significantly raises the probability of a household being food secure. Government should make the agriculture sector strong and provide employment opportunities for households to work outside of the farm. |
| Keywords: | food security, remittance, Bangladesh, Agribusiness, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, O13, O19, |
| Date: | 2015–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea15:197033&r=dev |
| By: | Briceno, Bertha ; Coville, Aidan ; Martinez , Sebastian |
| Abstract: | The association between hygiene, sanitation, and health is well documented, yet thousands of children die each year from exposure to contaminated fecal matter. At the same time, evidence on the effectiveness of at-scale behavior change interventions to improve sanitation and hygiene practices is limited. This paper presents the results of two large-scale, government-led handwashing and sanitation promotion campaigns in rural Tanzania. For the campaign, 181 wards were randomly assigned to receive sanitation promotion, handwashing promotion, both interventions together, or neither. One year after the end of the program, sanitation wards increased latrine construction rates from 38.6 to 51 percent and reduced regular open defecation from 23.1 to 11.1 percent. Households in handwashing wards show marginal improvements in handwashing behavior related to food preparation, but not at other critical junctures. Limited interaction is observed between handwashing and sanitation on intermediate outcomes: wards that received both handwashing and sanitation promotion are less likely to have feces visible around their latrine and more likely to have a handwashing station close to their latrine facility relative to individual treatment groups. Final health effects on child health measured through diarrhea, anemia, stunting, and wasting are absent in the single-intervention groups. The combined-treatment group produces statistically detectable, but biologically insignificant and inconsistent, health impacts. The results highlight the importance of focusing on intermediate outcomes of take-up and behavior change as a critical first step in large-scale programs before realizing the changes in health that sanitation and hygiene interventions aim to deliver. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Hygiene Promotion and Social Marketing,Housing&Human Habitats,Disease Control&Prevention,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7164&r=dev |
| By: | Deresse, Fekadu Nigussie ; Calfat, Germán |
| Abstract: | The “minimalist” approach that once dominated microfinance outreach in the past is now a fading memory. A growing number of studies are suggesting a more “integrative” approach to support the marginalized and ultra-poor households. This study highlights the impact of the integrated programs-Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) and Productive Safety Net Programs (PSNP)-in Sekota district, Northern Ethiopia on consumption expenditure of households. Endogenous Switching Regression model is fitted to minimize threats of self-selection bias, unobserved characteristics and heterogeneity effect. The result reveals that self-selected participant in the integrated program has a significant and positive impact on monthly consumption expenditure compared with the random participants and non-participants. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous switching regression; Productive Safety Net Programme; Self-selection bias; Village Saving and Loan Association; Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iob:wpaper:201410&r=dev |
| By: | Stephan Klasen (Georg-August-University Göttingen ); Simon Lange (Georg-August-University Göttingen ) |
| Abstract: | In the absence of reliable and exhaustive income data, Proxy Means Tests (PMTs) are frequently employed as a cost-effective way to identify income-poor beneficiaries of targeted anti-poverty programs. However, their usefulness depends on whether proxies accurately identify the income poor. Based on Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC)-analysis, we find that PMTs perform poorly in terms of identifying poor households in Bolivian data when transfers are targeted narrowly to the poor but that the true positive rate is highly responsive to increases in the proportion of beneficiaries. Using non-parametric regression-techniques, we show that the resulting leakage can largely be confined to the non-poor close to the poverty line. However, simulating the impact on poverty measures of a uniform transfer to beneficiaries across inclusion rates suggests that the largest poverty impact is attained with very narrow targeting. Hence, the link between targeting accuracy and poverty impact is weak. |
| Keywords: | targeting; transfers; social assistance; proxy means tests; poverty; ROC-analysis; Latin America; Bolivia |
| JEL: | C52 I38 O21 |
| Date: | 2015–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:164&r=dev |
| By: | Di Falco, Salvatore ; Veronesi, Marcella |
| Abstract: | Recent literature shows that deviations from normal rainfall and temperature systematically increase the occurrence of human conflicts. We investigate whether land certification can offset the effect of climate anomalies on land use conflicts. We use a large panel dataset from farm-household surveys conducted in Ethiopia in years 2005 and 2007. We exploit both the exogenous variation in climatic factors and the random assignment of property rights to answer our research question. We find robust evidence that farm-households with land tenure are less prone to land disputes and more resilient to climate anomalies than farm-households without tenure security. |
| Keywords: | climate, conflicts, land certification, property rights, tenure security, Land Economics/Use, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae14:183083&r=dev |
| By: | Gonzalez, Ana Elena Meza ; Wieck, Christine |
| Abstract: | The conditional cash transfer program «Oportunidades» has been implemented in Mexico in order to alleviate intergenerational poverty by investing in human capital through education, health and nutrition. We estimate food and nutrient elasticities of demand with respect to income and price by the virtue of QUAIDS. We find that beneficiary households show a higher diversity of the diet; however, this diversity is not large enough to increment the sources of macro- and micronutrient intake. The value of the beneficiaries’ calorie elasticity also suggests that their need for food may not be entirely satisfied even after the reception of the monetary transfer. |
| Keywords: | conditional cash transfer, Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System, income and price elasticities, nutrient intake, Mexico, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae14:182834&r=dev |
| By: | Tse, Chun Wing ; Wei, Jianwen ; Wang, Yihan |
| Abstract: | Social capital helps reduce adverse shocks by facilitating access to transfers. This study examines how various measures of social capital are associated with disaster recovery from 2008 Sichuan earthquake. We find that households having a larger Spring Festival network in 2008 do better in housing reconstruction. A larger network significantly increases the amount of government aid received for housing reconstruction. With regards to how Spring Festival network channels more government aid to the household, the results show that a larger network increases the number of people showing up to offer monetary and material support, which is linked to more government aid received. This suggests that Spring Festival network members assist the quake-affected households to apply for and obtain government aid. As for other measures of social capital, connections with government officials and communist party membership do not significantly contribute to disaster recovery. Human capital, measured by the years of schooling of household head, is also not positively correlated with housing reconstruction. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters, Social Capital, Sichuan, Risk and Uncertainty, Q54, H84, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea15:195653&r=dev |
| By: | Di-Marcantonio, Federica ; Morales-Opazo, Cristian ; Barreiro-Hurlé, Jesús ; Demeke, Mulat |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between policy, market access, country governance indicators and food production in 41 African countries. Based on a cross-country panel sample, a fixed-random effect models is employed to test the hypothesis that beyond agricultural inputs and macroeconomic reforms other exogenous factors could foster food production. Our findings show that improving food-agricultural inputs enhance production, while conflicts, food aid and geographic location such as landlocked countries negatively affect food production. Exogenous factors influencing production response include rainfall, market access, and education. Both governance and education can indirectly improve food production by enhancing growth, through investment in infrastructures, and human capital. |
| Keywords: | food, production, market, governance, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae14:182683&r=dev |
| By: | Ferrière, Nathalie ; Suwa-Eisenmann, Akiko |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses empirically the impact of food aid on production, sales and purchases. We estimate the discrete choice and the level choice using the Ethiopian rural household survey. The panel dimension allows us to deal with food aid selection. Running a panel Tobit with sample selection and endogeneity we find that food aid reduces the probability of being a producer. It increases the one of being a seller and decreases the one of being a buyer only after 2004 that corresponds to changes in the criteria of food aid allocation. Food aid does not affect the level choice. |
| Keywords: | Food aid, production, sales, purchases, Ethiopia, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae14:182693&r=dev |
| By: | Francesco Farina (University of Siena ) |
| Abstract: | This review article presents the evolution of development theory during the XX century, the measurement of poverty, the concept and the indices of multidimensional poverty. A special focus concerns the complex linkages between income inequality, poverty and institutions during the growth process of developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Development theory,Growth,Poverty,Income inequality |
| JEL: | I31 I32 O15 O21 O43 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcr:wpaper:wpaper00046&r=dev |