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on Development |
| By: | Daniel Zaga (The Graduate Institute, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an impact evaluation of three nutritional programs implemented in Puebla, Mexico, run by SEDIF, a social assistance institution. The present study uses both a propensity score matching and weighting in order to balance the treatment and the control groups in terms of observable characteristics, and to estimate, later on, the causal effect of the programs on different areas: food support, food orientation, education, and health. This investigation adds strong empirical evidence about the beneficial effects of nutritional programs on growth indicators (i.e. on anthropometric variables). In addition, it provides some evidence about the favorable impact of this kind of programs on food orientation outcomes, such as eating habit changes or diet diversity, variety, and quality. However, this study unveils only marginal effects on food security and detrimental effects on educational outcomes (specifically on student's marks). Finally, it does not provide conclusive effects on health. |
| Keywords: | Nutritional programs, impact evaluation, anthropometrics, Mexico, Puebla |
| JEL: | I12 O12 I20 D04 C31 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:cfdwpa:cfdwp09-2015&r=dev |
| By: | Dan Biller; Luis Andres; Matias Dappe |
| Abstract: | The South Asia region is home to the largest pool of individuals living under the poverty line, coupled with a fast-growing population. The importance of access to basic infrastructure services on welfare and the quality of life is clear. Yet the South Asia region?s rates of access to infrastructure (sanitation, electricity, telecom, and transport) are closer to those of Sub-Saharan Africa, the one exception being water, where the South Asia region is comparable to East Asia and the pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. The challenge of increasing access to these services across the South Asia region is compounded by the unequal distribution of existing access for households. This study improves understanding of this inequality by evaluating access across the region?s physical (location), poverty, and income considerations. The paper also analyzes inequality of access across time, that is, across generations. It finds that while the regressivity of infrastructure services is clearly present in South Asia, the story that emerges is heterogeneous and complex. There is no simple explanation for these inequalities, although certainly geography matters, some household characteristics matter (like living in a rural area with a head of household who lacks education), and policy intent matters. If a poorer country or a poorer state can have better access to a given infrastructure service than in a richer country or a richer state, then there is hope that policy makers can adopt measures that will improve access in a manner in which prosperity is more widely shared. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure; Inequality; Poverty; South Asia |
| JEL: | D6 O1 O18 O53 R10 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p1485&r=dev |
| By: | Tigist Mekonnen Melesse (PhD fellow, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht) |
| Abstract: | Adoption of improved agricultural technologies is central to transformation of farm- ing system and a path out of poverty in developing countries. The aim of the current study is to provide empirical evidence on the impact of improved agricultural technolo- gies (HYVs and chemical fertilizer) on smallholders' output market participation. The analysis is based on Farmer Innovation Fund (FIF) impact evaluation survey data cov- ering around 2,675 households collected by the World Bank in 2010-2013 in Ethiopia. Endogenous treatment eect and sample selection models are employed to account for the self-selection bias in technology adoption and market participation. Regressions based on matching techniques are employed for robustness check. The main results shows that adoption of improved high-yielding varieties (HYVs) and chemical fertilizer is found to have a positive and robust eect on smallholders' marketed surplus. We found evidence that adoption of improved HYVs increases surplus crop production by 757 kg, whereas adoption of chemical fertilizer increases surplus by 285 kg. When the two technologies are adopted jointly, marketed surplus is found to increases by 635 kg, which establishes the complementarity of the two technologies. The result also shows that farmers' surplus crop production and market participation is deter- mined by access to modern inputs, cereal crop price, farm size, availability of labor, and infrastructure facility. Access to credit and training fosters technology adoption, however, we are unable to witness learning externality from neighbors on smallholders marketed surplus. Therefore, agriculture and rural development policy needs to focus on supporting agricultural technology adoption. |
| Keywords: | Smallholders, market participation, technologies, treatment eect model |
| JEL: | D04 O12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2015/06&r=dev |
| By: | Ngigi, Marther W.; Müller, Ulrike; Birner, Regina |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of multiple shocks on assets by employing two waves of a panel data set of 360 rural households in three agro-ecological zones in Kenya. To control for unobserved heterogeneity, a ‘within’ household fixed effects model was employed. One major finding is that climatic shocks negatively affect households’ livestock holdings -apart from small ruminant and non-ruminant livestock due to their higher adaptive capacity. Consequently, households rely on two major coping strategies to smooth their consumption level: (1) adjusting their livestock portfolios, and (2) borrowing from group-based approaches. The latter strategy is particularly important for poor households in safeguarding their already low asset base. The findings suggest that livestock protection policies, such as diversification of livestock portfolios, promotion of fodder banks and index-based livestock insurance, are substantial. Scaling-up of group-based approaches would augment poor households’ recovery and resilience against multiple shocks in the face of accelerating climate change. |
| Keywords: | multiple shocks, livestock, group-based approaches, rural Kenya, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Health Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C33, D13, I18, O12, O13, Q54, |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:210703&r=dev |
| By: | Marion Mercier (Universite Libre de Bruxelles); Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke (Universite Libre de Bruxelles) |
| Abstract: | Based on an original three-wave panel data for Burundi, allowing to track individuals from 1998 to 2012 and to compute a local measure of exposure to violence during the whole civil war, we investigate the effects of the conflict on poverty dynamics. We put forward a significant positive correlation between violence exposure and various measures of deprivation at the household level, which turns out to persist until 2012 - 7 years after the conflict termination. Moreover, we find that the adverse effect of the war on welfare mostly stems from poor households whose chances to pull through are significantly and durably reduced when they experienced violence. Violence exposure thus seems to have trapped these households into chronic poverty, while we do not find significant evidence of violence exposure affecting non-poor households' likelihood to fall into poverty. |
| Keywords: | Deprivation; Poverty dynamics; Civil war; Panel data; Burundi |
| JEL: | C81 I32 O12 N47 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:198&r=dev |
| By: | Estelle Koussoubé (PSL, Université Paris Dauphine, LEDa, IRD, UMR DIAL) |
| Abstract: | (english) This paper examines the conditions of emergence of agricultural land markets in the cotton zone of Burkina Faso. I use census data obtained from 454 villages in the Hauts-Bassins region, to estimate the determinants of activity in land sales and rental markets, focusing on the effect of internal in-migration. After controlling for the endogeneity of in-migration using instrumental variables, the results show a significant and positive impact of in-migration on the probability of rentals of agricultural land at the village level. The results also show that the eradication of river blindness in the study area, and rainfall shocks in migrant origin provinces are important determinants of in-migration in this part of Burkina Faso. Furthermore, I find a positive impact of urban proximity on both land sales and rental market activity. These findings suggest that heterogeneity in land endowment and access to (input and output) markets play a crucial role in the emergence of land markets in Western Burkina Faso. _________________________________ (français) Cet article examine les conditions d’émergence des marchés fonciers ruraux dans la région des Hauts-Bassins dans la zone cotonnière du Burkina Faso. J’utilise des données de recensement sur 454 villages de la région combinées avec des données géo-référencées pour estimer l’impact de la migration sur les ventes et locations de terres agricoles. La première contribution de ce papier est de corriger du biais d’endogénéité de la migration en utilisant des variables instrumentales, à savoir les chocs de précipitations dans les régions d’origine des migrants, et la participation au programme de lutte contre l’onchocercose (PLO) lancé en 1974 par l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé. En recourant à cette approche par variables instrumentales, je trouve que l’augmentation de la part des migrants dans les villages a un impact positif sur la probabilité d’avoir un marché foncier actif à la location et à la vente. Ces résultats suggèrent que la rareté de la terre n’est pas le principal déterminant des ventes et locations de terres agricoles; les différences de dotations en terres jouent un rôle important dans l’émergence et le développement des marchés fonciers. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Land Markets; Internal Migration; Urban Proximity; Rainfall Shocks; River Blindness; Burkina Faso. |
| JEL: | Q15 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201410&r=dev |
| By: | Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Most studies of input subsidy programs confine their analysis to measuring contemporaneous program effects. This article estimates the potential longer run or enduring effects of fertilizer subsidy programs on commercial purchases of fertilizer and farmers’ maize production over time. We use four waves of panel data on 462 farm households in Malawi for whom fertilizer use can be tracked for eight consecutive seasons between 2003/04 and 2010/11. Panel estimation methods are used to control for potential endogeneity of subsidized fertilizer. Farmers acquiring subsidized fertilizer in three consecutive prior years are found to purchase slightly more commercial fertilizer in the next year. This suggests a small amount of crowding in of commercial fertilizer from the receipt of subsidized fertilizer in prior years. Acquiring subsidized fertilizer in one year has a modest positive impact on increasing maize output in the same year. However, acquiring subsidized fertilizer in prior years generates no statistically significant effect on maize output in the current year. The findings indicate that potential enduring effects of the Malawi fertilizer subsidy programs are limited. Additional interventions that increase soil fertility are needed to raise maize to fertilizer response rates. Doing so can make using inorganic fertilizer more profitable and sustainable for smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa, and increase the efficiency of input subsidy programs. |
| Keywords: | Malawi, input subsidies, enduring effects, International Development, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midasp:211087&r=dev |
| By: | Ralph C. Maloumby-Baka (University of Quebec in Montreal); Christian Kingombe (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an impact evaluation of three nutritional programs implemented in Puebla, Mexico, run by SEDIF, a social assistance institution. The present study uses both a propensity score matching and weighting in order to balance the treatment and the control groups in terms of observable characteristics, and to estimate, later on, the causal effect of the programs on different areas: food support, food orientation, education, and health. This investigation adds strong empirical evidence about the beneficial effects of nutritional programs on growth indicators (i.e. on anthropometric variables). In addition, it provides some evidence about the favorable impact of this kind of programs on food orientation outcomes, such as eating habit changes or diet diversity, variety, and quality. However, this study unveils only marginal effects on food security and detrimental effects on educational outcomes (specifically on student's marks). Finally, it does not provide conclusive effects on health. |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:cfdwpa:cfdwp10-2015&r=dev |