Food aid and child nutrition in rural Ethiopia

"Food aid programs have become increasingly important for disaster relief in many developing countries. In Ethiopia, a drought-stricken economy with one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world, food aid has amounted to almost 10 million metric tons (mt) from 1984 to 1998, almost 10 percent of annual cereal production. Because of the importance of food aid in Ethiopia, much effort has been devoted to evaluation of its effectiveness.....Many evaluations of food aid have examined its impact on household calorie availability. This paper focuses on the effects of food aid on individual nutritional status, as measured by indicators of child nutrition." from Author's Abstract

Methods in Consumption Analysis: Consumer Theory, Econometric Issues and Philippine Estimates

This article has been presented at the Workshop on Methods for Agricultural Policy Analysis held at the UP Los Baños on August 13-14, 1985. It reviews the consumer theory and demand system and the econometric issues in utilizing household level data. It also reviews the Philippine estimates and its significance in nutrition policy simulation.agriculture sector, econometric modeling

Methods in Consumption Analysis: Consumer Theory, Econometric Issues and Philippine Estimates

This article has been presented at the Workshop on Methods for Agricultural Policy Analysis held at the UP Los Baños on August 13-14, 1985. It reviews the consumer theory and demand system and the econometric issues in utilizing household level data. It also reviews the Philippine estimates and its significance in nutrition policy simulation.agriculture sector, econometric modeling

Short- and long-term effects of the 1998 Bangladesh flood on rural wages

Natural disasters have particularly devastating impacts on economic growth in developing countries because they impede the accumulation of capital. The resilience of labor markets is crucial especially for the poor who rely only on labor to diversify their income portfolio and buffer against risk. Such a risk management strategy may become more challenging as global climate change increases the frequency of natural disasters. We use the Bangladesh Flood Impact panel household survey to evaluate how the 1998 “flood of the century” affected wages in Bangladesh. We find long-term declines in wages where nonagricultural labor markets are more severely affected. We also evaluate how soil quality and proximity to auxiliary labor markets cushion labor markets against the disaster. The most compelling evidence shows that workers in areas further from centers of economic activity are more vulnerable to flood-induced wage losses. Our findings suggest that future emergency relief and climate change programs should consider the protection of labor markets by improving infrastructure to facilitate job searches in alternative locations or reduce migration costs.accumulation of capital, Climate change, Disasters, economic growth, flood, labor markets, migration costs, Risk management, Soil quality, Wages,

Assets at Marriage in Rural Ethiopia

This paper examines the determinants of assets at marriage in rural Ethiopia. We identify and test three separate processes that determine assets brought to marriage: assortative matching; compensating parental transfers at marriage; and strategic behavior by parents. We find ample evidence for the first, none for the second, and some evidence of the third for brides. We also find no evidence of competition for parental assets among siblings. Results suggests that parents do not transfer wealth to children in ways that compensate for marriage market outcomes. Certain parents, however, give more assets to daughters whenever doing so increases the chances of marrying a wealthy groom.

Marriage and Assortative Matching in Rural Ethiopia

This paper examines the determinants of human and physical capital at marriage. Using detailed data from rural Ethiopia, we Þnd ample evidence of assortative matching at marriage. Assets brought to marriage are distributed in a highly unequal manner. Sorting operates at a variety of levels . wealth, schooling, and work experience . that cannot be summarized into a single additive index. For Þrst unions, assets brought to marriage are positively associated with parents. wealth, indicating that a bequest motive affects assets at marriage. Unlike most brides, grooms appear to accumulate individual assets over time and over marriages. The marriage market is a major conduit for rural and gender inequality.

Promising approaches to address the needs of poor female farmers:

"Gender norms are an important constraint to increasing agricultural productivity. Inequality in the distribution of resources between men and women is linked with production inefficiency, yet interventions targeting smallholder farmers often fail to redress women's lack of access to, and control of, important agricultural resources. Women are often constrained in access to and control of land, water, and other natural resources; complementary inputs, such as seeds and fertilizer; new varieties and technologies; agricultural extension; labor; credit; markets; and social capital. Oftentimes, interventions will be designed to relieve one constraint, not realizing that gender norms—or constraints in other resources—are more binding and may affect the outcome of the intervention. Without specific attention to gender issues, programs and projects are likely to reinforce inequalities between women and men and may even increase resource imbalances. While individual projects cannot hope to redress these inequalities in the short term, at a minimum, interventions should do no harm, and ideally they should catalyze a change process for ending gender discrimination and securing women's access to key resources. This brief focuses on key agricultural resources needed by poor female farmers to generate incomes and ensure their families' food security. It is organized around key resources and promising approaches to increase poor women's control of those resources. One resource that is not included in this review is human capital. It must be emphasized that investing in women's education, health, and nutrition is an integral part of enabling women to guarantee their families'—and their own—well-being. These approaches were identified in the course of a review of projects and interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. However, while many of these interventions are innovative, most of them have not been rigorously evaluated. Where evaluations have been done, little attention has been paid to the differential impacts on men and women, or to which delivery mechanisms may be more effective in reaching different groups of women and men. Many of the approaches were also pilot projects, and without evaluations it is difficult to recommend which of them should be scaled up. Nevertheless, this brief suggests many promising strategies for channeling resources into the hands of female farmers to boost their agricultural productivity." from TextWomen, Farmers, Gender, food security, Land policy, Water resources, Agricultural inputs, extension activities,

Methods for microeconometric risk and vulnerability assessments

This"toolkit"provides quantitative tools to practitioners who want to undertake risk and vulnerability assessments using household data. While one could use price, exchange rate, and balance of payments data to examine macroeconomic shocks, and rainfall data to assess the severity of droughts and floods, we are ultimately interested in their impacts on households - thus the emphasis on household data.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Financial Intermediation

Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions

This paper critically reviews attempts to increase poor female farmers' access to, and control of, productive resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It surveys the literature from 1998 to 2008 that describes interventions and policy changes across several key agricultural resources, including land, soil, and water; labor-saving technologies; improved varieties; extension services; and credit. Main questions: (1) Are women more constrained in access to, and control of, productive resources? (2) What are the key intervention strategies to address constraints to accessing such resources? (3) What are some of the promising approaches that have been used in the field? and (4) Have those approaches been rigorously evaluated, and what are the implications for scaling up

Marriage and Assortative Matching in Rural Ethiopia

This paper examines the determinants of human and physical capital at marriage. Using detailed data from rural Ethiopia, we Ãnd ample evidence of assortative matching at marriage. Assets brought to marriage are distributed in a highly unequal manner. Sorting operates at a variety of levels - wealth, schooling, and work experience - that cannot be summarized into a single additive index. For first unions, assets brought to marriage are positively associated with parents' wealth, indicating that a bequest motive affects assets at marriage. Unlike most brides, grooms appear to accumulate individual assets over time and over marriages. The marriage market is a major conduit for rural and gender inequality.