Three essays on internal migration and nutrition in Tanzania

This thesis is formed of three separate essays. The essays are empirical in nature and use the Kagera Health and Development Survey from Tanzania. The survey spans a 19-year period offering a unique opportunity to study many long-run dynamic processes of development in rural Africa. In the first essay, a version of which was co-authored with Joachim De Weerdt, we use these data to shed light on how mass internal migration changes the nature of informal risk-sharing. By quantifying how shocks and consumption co-move across linked households, our analysis shows that migrants unilaterally insure their extended family members who remain at home. This finding contradicts risk-sharing models based on reciprocity, but is consistent with assistance driven by social norms. Migrants sacrifice three to five per cent of their consumption growth to provide this insurance, which seems too trivial to have a stifling effect on their growth through migration. The second essay studies the role of exogenous income shocks on long-term migration decisions. The results reveal that temperature shocks cause large fluctuations in household consumption and inhibit long-term migration among men. These findings suggest that liquidity constraints are binding and prevent potential migrants from tapping into the opportunities brought about by internal migration. The final essay focuses on child nutrition and examines whether under-nourished children are able to recover the height losses later in life. The essay questions the methods used in the existing empirical literature and challenges the conventional view that recovery is nearly impossible after five years of age. The empirical part of the essay documents how puberty offers an opportunity window for recovery in the case of children in Kagera

Maatalouskaupan vapauttaminen ja kehitysmaat : Kehitysmaiden erityis- ja erilliskohtelu WTO:n maataloussopimuksessa sekä pienviljelijöiden aseman parantaminen

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan maatalouskaupan vapauttamista kehitysmaiden näkökulmasta. Maailman kauppajärjestössä neuvotellaan maatalouskaupan asteittaisesta vapauttamisesta. Jotta vapauttamisesta olisi mahdollista hyötyä kehitysmaissa, on maataloustuotantoa pysyttävä tehostamaan. Pienviljelijät ovat keskeisessä asemassa kehitysmaissa sekä maataloustuotannon että köyhyyden vähentämisen kannalta. Maataloussopimus saattaa kuitenkin rajoittaa tarvittavien uudistusten tekemistä. Lisäksi se voi olla ristiriidassa kehitysmaiden kehitystavoitteiden kanssa. Tämän vuoksi kehitysmaille on WTO:ssa myönnetty niin sanottu erityis- ja erilliskohtelu. Erityis- ja erilliskohtelu suo kehitysmaille helpotuksia markkinoille pääsyyn, kotimaiseen tukeen sekä vientitukiin liittyvistä sitoumuksista. Vähiten kehittyneet maat ovat näistä sitoumuksista kokonaan vapautettuja. Tutkielman pääpaino on kehitysmaiden erityis- ja erilliskohtelussa WTO:n maataloussopimuksessa. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan ensinnäkin sitä, miten maataloussopimus rajoittaa valtioiden toimintamahdollisuuksia pienviljelijöiden aseman parantamiseksi ja toiseksi sitä, miten erityis- ja erilliskohtelulla voidaan tilannetta helpottaa. Aluksi on tarkasteltava pienviljelijöiden kohtaamia keskeisiä rajoitteita sekä ongelmia. Tämän jälkeen on pohdittava keinoja näiden ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi. Tutkielmassa havainnollistetaan kahta pienviljelijöille tyypillistä ongelmaa teoreettisten mallien avulla. Luottomarkkinoiden epätäydellisyyttä tarkastellaan Bardhanin ja Udryn (1999) mallin sekä omavaraisviljelyn syitä Fafchampsin (1992) mallin avulla. Mallien avulla pystytään selvittämään ongelmien syyt ja tarvittavat toimenpiteet ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi. Tämän jälkeen tarkastellaan sitä, miten WTO:n maataloussopimus estää kehitysmaiden hallituksia tekemästä tarvittavia uudistuksia pienviljelijöiden hyväksi sekä sitä, miten erityis- ja erilliskohtelu edesauttaa ristiriitatilanteiden ratkaisemista. Tutkielman lopuksi tarkastellaan valtion toimintaa pienviljelijöiden hyväksi maataloussektorilla yleisesti maataloussopimuksen sekä erityis- ja erilliskohtelun valossa. Tutkielmassa havaitaan, että erityis- ja erilliskohtelun avulla pystytään ratkaisemaan, muutamaa poikkeusta lukuun ottamatta, useimmat maataloussopimuksen mukanaan tuomat epäkohdat, jotka estävät hallitusta toteuttamasta tarvittavia uudistuksia pienviljelijöiden aseman parantamiseksi. Keskeiseksi ongelmaksi muodostuu kuitenkin kehitysmaiden puutteelliset resurssit, jotka estävät tarvittavien uudistusten toteuttamisen. Lisäksi tullitulojen menettäminen vähentää hallitusten käytettävissä olevia tuloja osassa kehitysmaita. Erityis- ja erilliskohtelun yhteydessä sovittu kehittyneiden maiden apu ns. tarjontapuolen ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi nousee keskeiseksi. Ongelmana kuitenkin on, että apua koskevat erityis- ja erilliskohtelulausekkeet ovat vain suosituksia, eivätkä siten velvoita kehittyneitä maita. Sitovien sääntöjen luominen avun antamiseksi edesauttaisi maataloussektoreiden pitkäjänteistä uudistamista kehitysmaissa. Kehitysmaiden differentiaatio maataloussopimuksessa vaikuttaa välttämättömältä, jotta erityis- ja erilliskohtelu tehostuisi ja sitovista säännöistä sopiminen helpottuisi

More Than a Safety Net: Ethiopia\u27s Flagship Public Works Program Increases Tree Cover

More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularity, the environmental impacts of public works programs remain largely undocumented. We quantify the impact on tree cover of Ethiopia\u27s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), one of the world\u27s largest and longest-running public works programs, using satellite-based data of tree cover combined with difference-in-differences and inverse probability treatment weighting methodologies. We find that the PSNP increased tree cover by 3.8% between 2005 and 2019, with larger increases in less densely populated areas and on steep-sloped terrain. As increasing tree cover is considered an important strategy to mitigate global warming, our results suggest a win–win potential for social safety net programs with an environmental component

Properties and chemical modifications of lignin : Towards lignin-based nanomaterials for biomedical applications

Biorenewable polymers have emerged as an attractive alternative to conventional metallic and organic materials for a variety of different applications. This is mainly because of their biocompatibility, biodegradability and low cost of production. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising renewable carbon-containing source on Earth. Depending on the origin and species of the biomass, lignin consists of 20-35% of the lignocellulosic biomass. After it has been extracted, lignin can be modified through diverse chemical reactions. There are different categories of chemical modifications, such as lignin depolymerization or fragmentation, modification by synthesizing new chemically active sites, chemical modification of the hydroxyl groups, and the production of lignin graft copolymers. Lignin can be used for different industrial and biomedical applications, including biofuels, chemicals and polymers, and the development of nanomaterials for drug delivery but these uses depend on the source, chemical modifications and physicochemical properties. We provide an overview on the composition and properties, extraction methods and chemical modifications of lignin in this review. Furthermore, we describe different preparation methods for lignin-based nanomaterials with antioxidant UV-absorbing and antimicrobial properties that can be used as reinforcing agents in nanocomposites, in drug delivery and gene delivery vehicles for biomedical applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Despite COVID-19, food consumption remains steady in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

There is substantial concern that global food insecurity is increasing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), and CGIAR are trying to get a clear picture of the growing challenges people may be facing, but the nature of the pandemic makes data on food security and daily living hard to obtain. Because face-to-face surveys have largely not been possible during the pandemic, much of what we know about actual changes in food security status comes from phone surveys. These surveys suggest large proportions of respondents are facing falling incomes; the World Bank reports declines in incomes and food security where they have conducted phone surveys

Expanding Social Protection Coverage with Humanitarian Aid: Lessons on Targeting and Transfer Values from Ethiopia

While social protection programmes have multiplied over the last two decades across sub-Saharan Africa, these coexist alongside humanitarian assistance in many places, calling for better integration of assistance delivered through the two channels. Progress on this front is hampered by limited evidence of whether and how these historically siloed sectors can work together. Using quantitative and qualitative data from districts covered by Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) and where humanitarian food assistance (HFA) was delivered, we assess differences in targeting and transfer values. We find that the PSNP and HFA were targeted to households with different characteristics. PSNP transfers did, on average, reach those households that were chronically food insecure. HFA, while delivered through the PSNP systems, was targeted to households that were acutely vulnerable. These are promising findings as they suggest that social protection systems are able to effectively deliver a continuum of support in response to different types of vulnerability and risk. On transfer values, we find that the value of PSNP transfers is greater than those for HFA. One reason for this may be due to the social pressure on local officials to distribute support more widely across a drought-affected population when faced with acute needs

Uneven recovery and a lingering food crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic for rural safety net transfer recipients in Ethiopia

In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at IFPRI and elsewhere worked quickly with their partners in government, the private sector, and survey firms to provide evidence on the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis and related restrictions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, systematic evidence on the effects of the crisis has been more limited in the ensuing months up to and after the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. Early analysis of economic models of the crisis suggested that its economic effects would be severe in the short run and greatest in Africa south of the Sahara, where the pandemic and related lockdowns were projected to depress incomes of both urban workers and rural households (Laborde, Martin, and Vos 2021). Phone surveys and rapid assessments conducted in the first weeks of the pandemic reported significant job losses in both rural and urban areas (Wieser et al. 2020), disruptions to urban food value chains (Tamru, Hirvonen, and Minten 2020), and declines in household dietary diversity in Addis Ababa (Hirvonen, de Brauw, and Abate 2021). In the time since those initial projections and rapid surveillance surveys were conducted, researchers have revisited the same samples to analyze the medium-term effects of the pandemic. In addition, they have gathered information on households at the economic margins of society and those considered to be less affected by the pandemic by virtue of their sector of employment or remote location

Resilience of urban value chains during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from dairy and vegetable chains in Ethiopia

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many researchers and international organizations voiced concerns about the resilience of food value chains amid lockdowns and border closures, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (Laborde et al. 2020; Reardon, Bellemare, and Zilberman 2020; Resnick 2020). This chapter explores the pandemic’s effects on dairy and vegetable value chains in Ethiopia’s capital through mid-2021. Despite early fears about the pandemic’s impacts, survey data show that these urban value chains quickly rebounded after an initial period of fragility, demonstrating resilience over the research period. Amid tremendous uncertainty and market volatility, most value chain actors also indicated that the pandemic had not negatively affected their business activities

Preparation and characterization of dentin phosphophoryn-derived peptide-functionalized lignin nanoparticles for enhanced cellular uptake

The surface modification of nanoparticles (NPs) using different ligands is a common strategy to increase NP−cell interactions. Here, dentin phosphophoryn‐derived peptide (DSS) lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) are prepared and characterized, the cellular internalization of the DSS‐functionalized LNPs (LNPs‐DSS) into three different cancer cell lines is evaluated, and their efficacy with the widely used iRGD peptide is compared. It is shown that controlled extent of carboxylation of lignin improves the stability at physiological conditions of LNPs formed upon solvent exchange. Functionalization with DSS and iRGD peptides maintains the spherical morphology and moderate polydispersity of LNPs. The LNPs exhibit good cytocompatibility when cultured with PC3‐MM2, MDA‐MB‐231, and A549 in the conventional 2D model and in the 3D cell spheroid morphology. Importantly, the 3D cell models reveal augmented internalization of peptide‐functionalized LNPs and improve antiproliferative effects when the LNPs are loaded with a cytotoxic compound. Overall, LNPs‐DSS show equal or even superior cellular internalization than the LNPs‐iRGD, suggesting that DSS can also be used to enhance the cellular uptake of NPs into different types of cells, and release different cargos intracellularly.Peer reviewe

Vastasyntyneiden hätätilanteiden koulutusohjelma suomalaisiin synnytyssairaaloihin

Hätätilanteisiin varautuminen on keskeinen potilasturvallisuuden elementti. Suomen Perinatologisen Seuran neonatologijaos laati vastasyntyneiden hätätilanteiden koulutusohjelman parantamaan syntymän turvallisuutta