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on Development |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew (Michigan State University); Rao, Lakshman Nagraj (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Agricultural statistics derived from remote sensing data have been used primarily to compare land use information and changes over time. Nonclassical measurement error from farmer self-reports has been well documented in the survey design literature primarily in comparison to plots measured using Global Positioning System (GPS). In this paper, we investigate the reliability of remotely sensed satellite data on nonrandom measurement error and on agricultural relationships such as the inverse land size–productivity relationship and input demand functions. In our comparison of four Asian countries, we find significant differences between GPS and remotely sensed data only in Viet Nam, where plot sizes are small relative to the other countries. The magnitude of farmers’ self-reporting bias relative to GPS measures is nonlinear and varies across countries, with the largest magnitude of selfreporting bias of 130% of a standard deviation (2.2-hectare bias) in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic relative to Viet Nam, which has 13.3% of a standard deviation (.008-hectare bias). In all countries except Viet Nam, the inverse land size–productivity relationship is upwardly biased for lower land area self-reported measures relative to GPS measures. In Viet Nam, the intensive margin of organic fertilizer use is negatively biased by self-reported measurement error by 30.4 percentage points. As remotely sensed data becomes publicly available, it may become a less expensive alternative to link to survey data than rely on GPS measurement. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; land measurement; remote sensing; survey methods |
| JEL: | O12 O13 Q12 Q15 |
| Date: | 2018–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0540&r=all |
| By: | Doucouliagos, Chris (Deakin University); Hennessy, Jack (Deakin University); Mallick, Debdulal (Deakin University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of health aid on infant mortality conditional on the quality of governance in 96 recipient countries. Our analysis applies the long difference estimator and instrumental variable estimation, with aid instrumented by donor government fractionalization interacted with the probability of allocating health aid to a recipient nation. The effectiveness of health aid in reducing infant mortality is conditional on good governance (measured either as government effectiveness or control of corruption). Specifically, health aid to a recipient nation that experiences a one standard deviation improvement in government effectiveness reduces infant mortality by about 4 percent. Our findings reaffirm the importance of improving the quality of governance in recipient nations. |
| Keywords: | health aid, infant mortality, good governance |
| JEL: | F35 I15 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12166&r=all |
| By: | Paul Anand (Open University); Jere Behrman (University of Pennsylvania); Hai-Anh H. Dang (World Bank); Sam Jones (United Nations University) |
| Abstract: | Inequalities in the opportunity to obtain a good education in low-income countries are widely understood to be related to household resources and schooling quality. Yet, to date, most researchers have investigated the contributions of these two factors separately. This paper considers them jointly, paying special attention to their covariation, which indicates whether schools exacerbate or compensate for existing household-based inequalities. The paper develops a new variance decomposition framework and applies it to data on more than one million children in three low-income East African countries. The empirical results show that although household factors account for a significant share of total test score variation, variation in school quality and positive sorting between households and schools are, together, no less important. The analysis also finds evidence of substantial geographical heterogeneity in schooling quality. The paper concludes that promoting equity in education in East Africa requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools. |
| Keywords: | inequality of opportunity, education achievement, decomposition, household, school, sorting, Africa |
| JEL: | D60 H00 I20 O10 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-009&r=all |
| By: | Sepahvand, Mohammad H (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study is an empirical investigation of how individual risk attitudes influence the agricultural productivity of men and women in a sub-Saharan African country, Burkina Faso. By analyzing a large representative panel survey of farmers from 2014 and 2015, the results indicate lower productivity on female-owned plots. Controlling for various socio-economic factors, the results show that as the female farmers’ increase risk taking, the productivity of female-owned plots goes down. These results are robust regarding alternative specifications. However, productivity differences vary by the type of crop cultivated, the agro-ecological zone, the share of female farmers in the region, the soil quality, type of seed used, and between consumption quantiles when comparing the poorest to the richest 20 per cent of the farm households. The results indicate that female farmers do not increase their plot yield by taking more risk. It is argued that agricultural policy interventions in Burkina Faso need to be gender sensitized when addressing issues related to credit constraints, improved inputs, and policies that support increase in productivity. |
| Keywords: | risk attitudes; gender differences; agriculture; productivity; sub-Saharan Africa; Burkina Faso |
| JEL: | D13 D81 J16 Q12 |
| Date: | 2019–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2019_003&r=all |
| By: | Sepahvand, Mohammad H (Department of Economics); Shahbazian, Roujman (Swedish institute for social research); Bali Swain, Ranjula (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A popular uprising in 2014, led to a revolution overthrowing the sitting president of Burkina Faso. We investigate if individuals’ risk attitudes changed due to this revolution. Specifically, we investigate the impact of the revolution on risk attitudes, by gender, age and level of education. The analysis is based on a unique nationally representative panel Household Budget Survey, which allows us to track the changes in the risk attitudes of the same individuals before, during and after the revolution. Our results suggest that the impact of the revolution is short-term. Individuals become risk averse during the revolution but converge back to the pre-revolution risk attitudes, slightly increasing their risk taking, after the revolution is over. Women are more risk taking than the men after the revolution but are more risk averse during the revolution. In general, older individuals tend to have higher risk aversion than the younger individuals. During the revolution, however, the individuals with higher level of education are less willing to take risk. |
| Keywords: | Risk attitudes; exogenous shock; revolution; gender; Burkina Faso |
| JEL: | D12 D74 D81 O12 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2019_002&r=all |
| By: | Chun, Natalie (Asian Development Bank); Tang, Heiwai (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of firms’ investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) on their demand for female and skilled workers. Using the gradual liberalization of the broadband Internet sector across provinces from 2006 to 2009 as a source of exogenous variation to identify the causal impacts of ICT, we find evidence from the country’s comprehensive enterprise survey data that firms’ adoption of broadband Internet and other related ICT increased their relative demand for female and college-educated workers. The effect of ICT on firms’ female employment is particularly strong among the college-educated workers, and is stronger in industries that are more dependent on highly manual and physical tasks. These results suggest that ICT can lower gender inequality in the labor market by shifting the labor demand from highly manual, routine tasks in which men have a comparative advantage toward more nonroutine, interactive tasks in which women hold a comparative advantage. However, the effect of ICT is weaker in industries relying more on complex and interactive tasks, suggesting that gender differences in education may have limited female labor supply for the most innovative industries that require highly technical skills to complement ICT. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality; ICT; information technology; infrastructure; wage inequality |
| JEL: | I24 J16 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2018–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0545&r=all |
| By: | Marlène Guillon (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - Clermont Auvergne - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jacky Mathonnat (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Keywords: | Official development assistance,sectorial analysis,Africa,China |
| Date: | 2018–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01777484&r=all |
| By: | Burrone, Sara (University of Florence); Giannelli, Gianna Claudia (University of Florence) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between child labor and status in employment in adulthood. We aim to contribute to the literature that focuses on the obstacles to the formation early in life of the skills that allow people to avoid vulnerability. Using the panel data survey for the Kagera region of Tanzania, we select children who were 7 to 15 years old in the 1990s and follow up with them in the first decade of the 2000s to study the consequences of child labor on adult employment. We estimate fixed effects linear probability models. We find that child labor is associated with vulnerable employment in adulthood. Negative adult employment effects arise when children who are younger than 11-12 work more than ten to twenty hours per week. This result is driven by girls. As for types of child labor, work on the household farm shows the largest negative effects. |
| Keywords: | child labor, vulnerable employment, unpaid work, women's employment in developing countries, Kagera region of Tanzania, Africa |
| JEL: | J13 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12162&r=all |
| By: | Blimpo, Moussa P. (University of Oklahoma); Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Jervis, Pamela (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Pugatch, Todd (Oregon State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies two experiments of early childhood development programs in The Gambia: one increasing access to services, and another improving service quality. In the first experiment, new community-based early childhood development (ECD) centers were introduced to randomly chosen villages that had no pre-existing structured ECD services. In the second experiment, a randomly assigned subset of existing ECD centers received intensive provider training. We find no evidence that either intervention improved average levels of child development. Exploratory analysis suggests that, in fact, the first experiment, which increased access to relatively low quality ECD services, led to declines in child development among children from less disadvantaged households. Evidence supports that these households may have been steered away from better quality early childhood settings in their homes. |
| Keywords: | early childhood development, cognitive stimulation, teacher training, The Gambia, randomized control trials, Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool |
| JEL: | I25 I38 O15 O22 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12163&r=all |
| By: | Otoo, Miriam; Gebrezgabher, Solomie; Danso, G.; Amewu, Sena; Amirova, Iroda |
| Abstract: | The safe recovery of nutrients from our waste streams allows us to address the challenges of waste management and soil nutrient depletion conjointly. Commercialization of waste-based organic fertilizers such as FortiferTM (fecal sludge-based co-compost) has the potential to generate significant benefits for developing economies via cost recovery for the sanitation sector and the provision of an alternative agricultural input for smallholder farmers. To guide future FortiferTM businesses, this report presents examples of detailed market assessments, based on farmers’ perceptions, attitudes and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a pelletized and non-pelletized FortiferTM co-compost. The research was conducted in the Greater Accra and Western regions in Ghana, and in and around Kampala (Uganda), Bangalore (India), Hanoi (Vietnam), and Kurunegala (Sri Lanka). Cross-country analyses helped to understand the effects of market drivers and, where possible, capture lessons learned for knowledge sharing. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iwmirp:284265&r=all |
| By: | Claudio R. Lucinda; David Grover, Sejal Patel |
| Abstract: | Research on the impact of water conservation instruments rarely considers the role of electoral politics. This paper evaluates the response of a major state-owned water utility to the drought that occurred in the city of São Paulo, Brazil during 2014. The response coincided with an election for state governor. A difference-in-difference research design produces no evidence that a reward-based instrument implemented before the election reduced household consumption. Evidence is found that a penalty-based instrument implemented after the election reduced consumption by 4 to 8%. The implications of insulating water utilities’ drought response from the political-electoral cycle are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Water conservation; policy instrument design; political budget cycles; drought |
| JEL: | H12 Q25 Q28 |
| Date: | 2019–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2019wpecon09&r=all |
| By: | Mohamed Boly (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - Clermont Auvergne - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Aïcha Sanou (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - Clermont Auvergne - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We analyze food security effects of biofuel production by using the synthetic control method. This retrospective and graphical analysis focuses on Indonesia and Mexico from 2000 to 2013. Indonesia is a major biodiesel producer while Mexico is specialized in maize and ethanol. Our findings show that biodiesel production positively affects food security through the increase in daily per capita energy consumption and food production index, but we observe the reverse effect for bioethanol. After the adoption of biofuels, the gap between Indonesia and its counter-factual allows us to conclude that biodiesel production does not harm food security. This could be explained by the fact that biodiesel production uses some feedstocks which do not directly compete with food crops; moreover, biodiesel exports generate revenues which are allocated to food imports. However, the gap between Mexico and its counter-factual suggests that bioethanol production leads to a reduction in food security, this because it uses maize which is the staple food of many Mexicans. Furthermore, Mexican ethanol exports compete with that of the U.S. Our results are robust to several falsification tests. |
| Keywords: | Food security,Biofuels,Impact assessment |
| Date: | 2019–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02019497&r=all |
| By: | Adeeba Ishaq (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad); Mahmood Khalid (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad); Eatzaz Ahmad (Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad) |
| Abstract: | Per capita dietary energy supply exceeds per capital dietary energy consumption in Pakistan. Almost half of its population is reported food insecure in various studies. Whether this high incidence of food insecurity persists in the country or not is understudied particularly when food security is measured from access (physical and economic) to food. This study bridges this literature gap. Using household expenditure survey based method to measure dietary energy consumption at household level as a measure of food security, it finds out region wise and quintile-wise trends in incidence of food insecurity in Pakistan during 2004-16. Seven rounds of HIES conducted during 2004-16 are used for analysis. Results show food insecurity trends are fluctuating at national and sub-national levels in Pakistan. It is increasing during 2004-08 and 2011-14 while decreasing during 2009-10 and 2014-16. Increasing trend is found in food insecurity at points in time where natural (earthquake and floods) or manmade (food price crisis, conflict) affected different areas of the country. Households’ expenditure quintile-wise trends of food insecurity show that bottom quintile has stable and high incidence of food insecurity. Second and third quintiles also have high level food insecurity. Additionally, these quintiles show high vulnerability to various shocks affecting their purchasing power. Lower but stable incidence of food insecurity in top quintile shows that apart economic aspects, food security has non-economic aspects as well like nutrition awareness/education. Provincial analysis show incidence of food insecurity is highest in Sindh and Balochistan while lowest in KPK. From our analysis it is implied that social safety nets and emergency relief efforts by government though protect food insecure population against shocks; they are not sustainable solutions. It is implied from trends analysis that sustainable solutions to protect both physical and economic access to food are required in Pakistan to cut hunger to lower levels and reduce people vulnerability to various shocks. |
| Keywords: | Food Insecurity, Minimum Dietary Energy Consumption and Requirement, Calories, Pakistan, Urban, Rural, Punjab Sindh, Balochistan, KPK |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2018:157&r=all |
| By: | Fernando M. Arag\'on (Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University); Francisco Oteiza (Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education); Juan Pablo Rud (Department of Economics, Royal Holloway, University of London and Institute of Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how subsistence farmers respond to extreme heat. Using micro-data from Peruvian households, we find that high temperatures reduce agricultural productivity, increase area planted, and change crop mix. These findings are consistent with farmers using input adjustments as a short-term mechanism to attenuate the effect of extreme heat on output. This response seems to complement other coping strategies, such as selling livestock, but exacerbates the drop in yields, a common measure of agricultural productivity. Using our estimates, we show that accounting for land adjustments is important to quantify damages associated with climate change. |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1902.09204&r=all |
| By: | Han, Xuehui (Asian Development Bank); Cheng, Yuan (Fudan University) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we construct a new dependency ratio measure by taking into account the consumption needs of the young and elderly people, and the productivity of middle-aged people. Different from the way that Cutler et al. (1990) and Weil (1999) constructed the relative needs by using the average consumptions of each age cohort of people, we estimate the factor of relative needs of people at different ages based on a regression model, which embraces the household age compositions and size in the assessment. Our analysis uses household survey data from five developing countries in Asia— Bangladesh, Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, and Viet Nam. To our best knowledge, this is among the pioneer work exploring such patterns for these countries. Focusing on the PRC, we further examine whether consumptions depend on the coresidence style. We found that (i) the consumption- and productivity-adjusted dependency ratio (both total and old dependency ratios) are consistently lower than the one that is traditionally defined across all five countries in our sample, and the differences vary from country to country; (ii) in the PRC, the differences between traditional dependency ratio and the consumption- and productivity-adjusted dependency ratio grow larger in more distant future; and (iii) in the PRC, the relatively younger elderly members between 65 and 72 years old help in reducing the consumption of young members in their households, and the elderly members who live alone consume more than their peers who live with their offspring. We also simulate the impacts of smaller households, urbanization, and economic growth on consumption for the PRC, based on our model. |
| Keywords: | consumption- and productivity-adjusted dependency ratio; coresidence; household structure |
| JEL: | D10 E10 E21 H55 J11 |
| Date: | 2017–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0531&r=all |
| By: | Azam, Jean-Paul; Djemaï, Elodie |
| Abstract: | We examine how cooperation within the couple protects the partners from HIV infection using survey data from southern Africa. The respective impacts of education and cooperation on HIV risk for both wives and husbands are estimated in a joint estimation model. We fully discuss and test the conflictual approach of the couple against a cooperative framework derived from a simple matching model. Our findings suggest that the larger the number of decisions husbands and wives jointly make, the less likely it is that they are infected with HIV. This is robust to assuming that cooperation is endogenous in the wife equation. Freedom and trust are also significantly related to the likelihood of infection for both partners while the women's views about whether marital violence is acceptable are not. These effects may come from a reduced likelihood of extramarital affairs among men and women living in more cooperative partnerships. |
| Keywords: | Couples; Matching; HIV infection; Education; Africa |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:33357&r=all |
| By: | Julia Cage (Département d'économie); Valeria Rueda (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the long-term historical impact of missionary activity on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. On the one hand, missionaries were among the first to invest in modern medicine in a number of countries. On the other hand, Christianity influenced sexual beliefs and behaviors. We build a new geocoded dataset locating Protestant and Catholic missions in the early 20th century, as well as their health investments. Using a number of different empirical strategies to address selection in missionary locations and into health investments, we show that missionary presence has conflicting effects on HIV today. Regions close to historical mission stations exhibit higher HIV prevalence. This negative impact is robust to multiple specifications accounting for urbanization, and we provide evidence that it is specific to STDs. Less knowledge about condom use is a likely channel. On the contrary, among regions historically close to missionary settlements, proximity to a mission with a health investment is associated with lower HIV prevalence nowadays. Safer sexual behaviors around these missions are a possible explanatory channel. |
| Keywords: | Historical persistence; Missions; Health investments; HIV/AIDS; Sexual behavior |
| JEL: | D72 N37 N77 O33 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1m830agp9d84tqs03n95sm3o1u&r=all |