The impact of land titling on labor allocation: Evidence from rural Peru

This paper analyzes the relationship between land property rights and household labor allocation. It posits that land titling has two opposite effects on labor decisions. On one hand, enhancement of tenure security should lead to reductions in guarding requirements and to increases in the hours that households spend off their land (Field effect). On the other hand, decreases in the risk of expropriation should lead to higher parcel-attached investments and to higher labor productivity related to land (productivity effect). To investigate this hypothesis, a massive land titling program in rural Peru (the Special Program of Land Titling, or PETT) is analyzed. Propensity score matching estimations suggest that the productivity effect is much larger than the Field effect, leading to overall increases in household labor allocations to agricultural self-employed activities. These estimations are robust to different specifications within a cross-section and a four-round panel dataset.Property rights, land titling, labor allocation,

The impact of CAFTA on employment, production, and poverty in Honduras:

"In this paper we develop a dynamic CGE model to examine the impact of CAFTA on production, employment and poverty in Honduras. We model four aspects of the agreement: tariff reductions, quotas, changes in the rules of origin for maquila and more generous treatment of foreign investment. We first show that trade liberalization under CAFTA has a positive effect on growth, employment and poverty but the effect is small. What really matters for Honduras is the assembly (maquila) industry. CAFTA liberalized the rules of origin for imports into this industry. That raises the growth rate of output by 1.4% and reduces poverty by 11% in 2020 relative to what it would otherwise have been. Increasing capital formation through an increase in foreign investment in response to CAFTA has an even larger impact on growth, employment and poverty. These simulations say something important about the growth process in a country like Honduras in which it seems reasonable to assume that there is underemployed, unskilled labor willing and able to work more at a fixed real wage. In such an economy changing the structure of demand in favor of sectors that use a lot of unskilled labor will have a big impact on growth. That is what the maquila simulation does, because maquila uses a lot of unskilled labor relative to skilled labor and capital. Alternatively the supply of capital can be increased by increasing the rate of capital formation. Either of these two has a far larger impact on growth and poverty than tariff reductions alone." from Authors' AbstractCAFTA, Growth, Poverty, CGE model,

The impact of CAFTA on poverty, distribution, and growth in El Salvador:

"In this paper we develop a dynamic CGE model to examine the impact of CAFTA on production, employment and poverty in El Salvador. We model four aspects of the agreement: tariff reductions, quotas, changes in the rules of origin for maquila and more generous treatment of foreign investment. The model shows that CAFTA has a small positive effect on growth, employment and poverty. Tariff reduction under CAFTA adds about .2% to the growth rate of output up to 2020. Liberalizing the rules of origin for maquila has a bigger positive effect on growth and poverty mainly because it raises the demand for exportables produced by unskilled labor. We model the foreign investment effect by assuming that capital inflows go directly to capital formation. This raises the growth rate of output by over 1% per year and lowers poverty incidence in 2020 by over 25% relative to what it would be in the baseline scenario. These simulations say something important about the growth process in a country like El Salvador in which it seems reasonable to assume that there is idle unskilled labor willing and able to work at a fixed real wage. In such an economy, growth can be increased in one of three ways. First, already employed resources can be moved to sectors where they are more productive. That is what the tariff reductions under CAFTA do, and the result is positive but small. Second, the structure of demand can be changed in such a way as to increase the demand for previously unemployed unskilled labor. That is what the maquila simulation does, because maquila uses a lot of unskilled labor relative to skilled labor and capital. Finally the supply of capital can be increased by increasing the rate of capital formation. That is what happens in the FDI simulation." from Authors' AbstractCAFTA, Trade agreements, Growth, Poverty, CGE model,

Provision of Public Services and Welfare of the Poor: Learning from an Incomplete Electricity Privatization Process in Rural Peru

The incomplete privatization of the electric sector in Peru provides a unique scenario for evaluating the impact of public versus private provision. The results in this paper suggest that management of electricity firms by the private sector leads to a significant improvement in the quality of the provision of electricity. These improvements in quality and supply of electricity provision yield some efficiency gains in terms of the time allocation of the working labor force that can be directly linked to the use of electricity. Rural households under private provision of electricity had more opportunities to work in non-farm activities, and as a result, the share of time in non-farm activities increased, indicating both a substitution effect and a potential price effect through higher non-farm wages. The substitution effect implies a reduction of hours spent on farm activities in favor of non-farm activities, and the price effect implies that households will receive higher salaries and therefore will need to work fewer hours in total. As a result, the increase in time spent on non-farm activities was accompanied by a reduction of hours spent on farm activities and an increase in hours spent on leisure.

The Role of Price Information in Agricultural Markets: Evidence from Rural Peru

Agriculture is a source of livelihood for 86% of households in rural areas, many of whom rely on their crops for income. However, many farmers in isolated areas do not have access to reliable market price information that can inform them about the most profitable opportunities on where to sell their products. This dissertation presents new evidence on the role of price information in farmers' marketing outcomes. I use data from a field experiment in the central highlands of Peru. A group of farmers in randomly selected villages was provided with mobile phones, through which they received detailed price information for seventeen relevant crops in six regional markets. I find that those provided with the information received 13-14% higher prices for their products. This effect was larger for perishable crops and for more risk-averse households. Information also made farmers more likely to participate in commercial activities and sell their crops (rather than allocating them for self-consumption). These results were not driven by other mobile phone benefits as the phones distributed to the farmers were restricted to only receive the price SMS during the period of the intervention. They are not driven by production decisions either because the intervention took place after planting decisions had already been made. Finally, I also investigate the possibility of information spillovers by examining marketing outcomes of households who did not receive the information but lived in villages where others did. I do not find any significant effects among households in this group

Soap Operas for for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training

We analyze the impact of the Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Peru (SWEP) program. SWEP trained female micro-entrepreneurs on business management practices (e.g. accounting, marketing, etc.). The training was provided in 4-5 hour sessions using soap operas and practical exercises specifically designed for the program. We conducted a field experiment among a group a micro-entrepreneurs based in two Peruvian cities (Lima and Piura) to investigate whether SWEP had a positive impact on its beneficiaries. Our results show the program positively affected the adoption of business practices taught by the program. In particular, those who received the training were 4-6 percentage points more likely to assign themselves a fixed salary (rather than taking cash from their businesses based on personal needs) and 6-11 percentage points more likely to keep better records of potential business contacts. We also find some positive impacts on the adoption of bookkeeping practices (4-6 percentage points), though this result is not significant across all of our specifications. While these changes in adoption rates were large compared to their baseline levels, they were rather small in absolute terms. Therefore, we do not find any impact on average business performance, household expenditures, or women empowerment in the household. Qualitative information suggests that micro entrepreneurs were satisfied with the training, but considered that many of the practices taught by the program were difficult to follow because of time constraints

Soap Operas for for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training

We analyze the impact of the Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Peru (SWEP) program. SWEP trained female micro-entrepreneurs on business management practices (e.g. accounting, marketing, etc.). The training was provided in 4-5 hour sessions using soap operas and practical exercises specifically designed for the program. We conducted a field experiment among a group a micro-entrepreneurs based in two Peruvian cities (Lima and Piura) to investigate whether SWEP had a positive impact on its beneficiaries. Our results show the program positively affected the adoption of business practices taught by the program. In particular, those who received the training were 4-6 percentage points more likely to assign themselves a fixed salary (rather than taking cash from their businesses based on personal needs) and 6-11 percentage points more likely to keep better records of potential business contacts. We also find some positive impacts on the adoption of bookkeeping practices (4-6 percentage points), though this result is not significant across all of our specifications. While these changes in adoption rates were large compared to their baseline levels, they were rather small in absolute terms. Therefore, we do not find any impact on average business performance, household expenditures, or women empowerment in the household. Qualitative information suggests that micro entrepreneurs were satisfied with the training, but considered that many of the practices taught by the program were difficult to follow because of time constraints

Are There Nutrient-based Poverty Traps? Evidence on Iron Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Peru

A key question in development economics is whether nutritional deficiencies generate intergenerational poverty traps by reducing the earnings potential of children born into poverty. To assess the causal influence on human capital of one of the most widespread micronutrient deficiencies, supplemental iron pills were made available at a local health center in rural Peru and adolescents were encouraged to take them up via classroom media messages. Results from school administrative records provide novel evidence that reducing iron deficiency results almost immediately in a large and significant improvement in school performance. For anemic students, an average of 10 100mg iron pills over three months improves average test scores by 0.4 standard deviations and increases the likelihood of grade progression by 11%. Supplementation also raises anemic students’ aspirations for the future. Both results indicate that cognitive deficits from iron-deficiency anemia contribute to a nutrition-based poverty trap. Our findings also demonstrate that, with low-cost outreach efforts in schools, supplementation programs offered through a public clinic can be both affordable and effective in reducing rates of adolescent IDA

Are There Nutrient-based Poverty Traps? Evidence on Iron Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Peru

A key question in development economics is whether nutritional deficiencies generate intergenerational poverty traps by reducing the earnings potential of children born into poverty. To assess the causal influence on human capital of one of the most widespread micronutrient deficiencies, supplemental iron pills were made available at a local health center in rural Peru and adolescents were encouraged to take them up via classroom media messages. Results from school administrative records provide novel evidence that reducing iron deficiency results almost immediately in a large and significant improvement in school performance. For anemic students, an average of 10 100mg iron pills over three months improves average test scores by 0.4 standard deviations and increases the likelihood of grade progression by 11%. Supplementation also raises anemic students’ aspirations for the future. Both results indicate that cognitive deficits from iron-deficiency anemia contribute to a nutrition-based poverty trap. Our findings also demonstrate that, with low-cost outreach efforts in schools, supplementation programs offered through a public clinic can be both affordable and effective in reducing rates of adolescent IDA