The political economy of relief aid allocation: evidence from Madagascar.

This paper studies the political economy of relief aid allocation using empirical evidence from relief programs after a major cyclone (Gafilo) hit Madagascar in March 2004. Relief was provided by the Government of Madagascar as well as local and international aid agencies. Aid allocation was generally more likely in areas with a higher need for aid, but there were substantial differences between aid allocation by the government and by international aid agencies. The likelihood of receiving aid from the government was higher in cyclone-affected communes with higher radio coverage and with stronger political support for the government. Relief from aid agencies was not affected by media or political factors but was more likely to go to poorer and easier accessible communes, whether or not they were affected by the cyclone.

Growth in high-value export markets in sub-Saharan Africa and its development implications.

During the past decades the global food system changed dramatically with increased trade in high-value food products, increased exports from developing countries, increased consolidation and dominance of large multinational food companies, and increased proliferation of public and private food standards. As a consequence, global food trade is increasingly organised around vertically coordinated supply chains rather than around spot market transactions. While there is consensus that these structural changes are profoundly changing the way food is produced and traded, there is no consensus on the overall welfare implications of increased high-value food exports and supply chain restructuring in poor countries. In this paper we discuss the income and poverty implications of expanded horticulture exports and changing supply chain structures for rural households in Sub- Saharan African exporting countries. We put together the economic arguments; distinguish different channels through which rural households are affected; provide evidence from three comparative case-studies on high-value horticulture exports; and derive implications for policy makers, private investors, and the development aid community.

Spillovers from Globalization on Land Use: Evidence from Madagascar

The effect of globalization on the environment and natural resource use in developing countries is hotly debated. We contribute to this debate through the analysis of primary data collected with small contract farmers in Madagascar that produce vegetables for export to Europe. Strong spillover effects of these trade opportunities on land use exist. Using a matched plot sampling design, the productivity of rice - the main domestically consumed staple - is shown to be two thirds higher on those fields that were contracted during the off-season for the production of vegetables. This increase in yields is linked to an increase of soil fertility due to the application of fertilizer and compost which farmers would not use prior to the contracts. While agricultural output goes up significantly, labor productivity stays the same, suggesting that there is greater labor absorption on existing land and the diffusion of this type of technology contract farming at a larger scale throughout Madagascar would be expected to substantially decrease incentives to deforest by increasing wages and boosting productivity of existing lands relative to newly deforested ones.Land Economics/Use,

The broken broker system?: Transacting on agricultural wholesale markets in India (Uttarakhand)

There is a vigorous debate on liberalization of the heavily regulated agricultural markets in India. A crucial institutional characteristic is the role of state-regulated brokers in wholesale markets. Relying on data from a unique survey in Uttarakhand, a state in North India, we find that regulations on margins are ineffective, since most brokers charge rates that significantly exceed the regulated ones. We also find that a majority of farmers self-select into long-term relationships with brokers. These relationships allow some of the farmers to interlink credit and insurance markets to the agricultural output market. This interlinkage does not, however, appear to be an instrument for farmer exploitation (since it does not lead to worse inputs, higher interest rates, or lower implicit output prices) but is seemingly an extra service provided by brokers to establish farmer loyalty and thereby ensure future supplies.Agricultural marketing, brokers, interlinkages,

The Impact of Media and Monotoring on Corruptin in Decentralized Public Programs: Evidence from Madagascar

Local capture of public expenditures is an important problem for service delivery and poverty reduction in developing countries. Standard anticorruption institutions may not be effective, as these tend often to be corrupt themselves. This paper analyses the impact of monitoring and infirmation distribution through the mass media on local capture of public expenditures on education in Madagascar in 2002-2003. We use survey data to assess capture in both cash and in-kind programs, at district and at school level. We find that local capture can be successfully constrained through a combination of monitoring and media programs. In addition to monitoring by the beneficiaries ('from below?, central monitoring ('from above? is important. More transparent funding mechanisms and access to mass media reduce capture. However, the impact of the media is conditional on the characteristics of the population. In communes characterized by high illiteracy, the impact of newspaper and poster campaigns is limited, and radios are more important to reduce capture

Regulations, brokers, and interlinkages: The institutional organization of wholesale markets in India

There is a vigorous debate on the liberalization of heavily regulated agricultural markets in India. A crucial institutional characteristic is the role of state regulated brokers in wholesale markets. Relying on data from a unique survey in Uttarakhand, a state in North-India, we find that regulations on margins are ineffective as most brokers charge rates that significantly exceed the regulated ones. We also find that a majority of firmers self-select into long-tfirm relationships with brokers. These relationships allow some of the firmers to interlink credit and insurance markets to the agricultural output market. This interlinkage does however not appear to be an instrument for firmer exploitation (as it does not lead to worse inputs, high interest rates, or lower implicit output prices), but is seemingly an extra service by brokers as to establish firmer loyalty to him and thus to ensure future supplies

PET Imaging in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects the motor system, but extramotor involvement is common. Progressive muscle weakness and wasting, including bulbar and respiratory muscles, limit survival to 2–5 years after disease onset in most patients. The diagnosis is made on clinical grounds and is based on the presence of signs of upper and lower motor neuron loss in different body regions in the absence of other pathologies that can explain the symptoms and signs of the patient. Making an accurate diagnosis can be difficult in early disease stages. ALS is a heterogeneous disorder with variability in age at onset, in phenotypic presentation, in the extent of frontotemporal involvement and in the disease progression rate. There is a high unmet medical need for objective markers that aid in early diagnosis and in predicting disease outcome. In this chapter, the current knowledge about the diagnostic and prognostic value of 18F 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-PET in ALS is discussed. The potential of other targets and PET tracers to visualize different aspects of ALS disease pathology is described