Does reduced cash beneit worsen educational outcomes of refugee children?

In 2002 the Danish government reduced the size of cash transfers to new refugees. We exploit the reform to study the effect of lower transfers on educational outomces of refugee children. Surprisingly, the reduction in parental benefits has no negative effect on educational outcomes of the children, such as test scores, probability of completion of the 9th grade or probability of enrollment in upper-secondary education. Likewise, children of parents affected by the reform are not forced to earn more in youth. Refugee parents increase their labour supply and earn more to compensate for the loss in income, but on average the increase in earnings does not compensate for the decline in benefits

Determinants of Welfare Dynamics in Rural Nicaragua

This article explores the determinants of poverty movements in rural Nicaragua by introducing a bivariate probate model, making it possible to treat the initial state of poverty as endogenous and thus avoiding introducing selection bias. The results indicate that this is relevant when exploring welfare dynamics in rural Nicaragua, as initially poor households face a higher probability of being poor in the subsequent period compared with non-poor households. It is also found that household composition, access to non-agriculture wage income and ownership of productive assets are important factors in explaining poverty movements. Moreover, climate-related shocks such as droughts and pest attacks not only have persistent and adverse impacts on household consumption, but also affect households’ productive asset holdings, which could affect their income-generating potential in the longer term.Cet article étudie les déterminants des dynamiques de pauvreté dans les zones rurales du Nicaragua au travers d’un modèle probit bivarié, ce qui permet de traiter comme endogène l’état initial de pauvreté, et ainsi d’éviter un biais de sélection. Les résultats indiquent que ceci est particulièrement pertinent dès lors que l’on s’intéresse aux dynamiques de ménages initialement pauvres qui ont une probabilité plus forte de rester pauvres que des ménages non-pauvres, suite à une période de temps déterminée. On constate également que la composition des ménages, le fait qu’ils aient accès ou pas à des revenus autres que des salaires agricoles, ou bien qu’ils possèdent des actifs de production, sont tous des facteurs importants pour expliquer les dynamiques de pauvreté. De plus, les chocs liés au climat, comme les sécheresses et les invasions de déprédateurs ont non seulement des conséquences persistantes et négatives sur la consommation des ménages, mais aussi sur la capacité de ces derniers à préserver leurs actifs de production, ce qui, à long terme pourrait réduire leur potentiel de création de revenus.

Food Prices and Food Security in Trinidad and Tobago

The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is booming, in particular as a consequence of increased energy production and the historical high oil prices. Whilst general inflation has remained relatively low for much of the present economic boom, substantial increases in retail food prices have been observed, in particular since 2005. This paper looks at the development of retail food prices, its causes, the potential impact thereof in terms of food security and possible policy options for addressing this. It concludes that whilst households with low income are the groups most affected by the food price increases and will continue to be so in the wake of increasing international prices, it is unlikely that the price increases in isolation will throw off Trinidad and Tobago’s path towards meeting the MDG 1 hunger target and bringing the share of undernourished people down to 6.5% by 2015. However, food security problems will remain, in particular related to overweight and obesity caused by unbalanced diets. Analysing the food marketing systems according to domestic production system (export versus domestic consumption), product type (fresh versus frozen and processed) and origins (imported versus domestic), the paper identifies potential causes of price increases. These include increases in price margins, international price changes and market conditions that vary greatly for different commodities, ranging from competitive to oligopolistic. Finally, the paper identifies areas of potential interventions related to direct price interventions, social protection, agricultural investment and trade facilitation.food security, inflation, price, vulnerability, Trinidad and Tobago, markets.

Mitteilungen des URZ 1/2010

Informationen des Universitätsrechenzentrums mit Jahresrückblick 2009 zu den aktuellen Projekten und Diensten des URZ:Jahresrückblick 2009 Neue Technologie im Campus-Backbone - Virtual Switching System (VSS) Softwareausstattung der Ausbildungspools Kurzinformationen Software-New

Biggin' it up ' food security and obesity in Jamaica and St Lucia

This paper explores two different aspects of food security, namely undernourishment and overweight in the two Caribbean Islands of Jamaica and St. Lucia. The analysis draws on household surveys conducted in late 2006 and early 2007 among 729 St. Lucian and 1009 Jamaican households. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper focuses on the main vulnerable livelihoods on the two islands, including subsistent farmers and farm labourers, city dwellers, hotel workers and fisher folks. Exposure to risk is an important determinant of food insecurity. Shocks of relevance to vulnerable groups in the two islands include both household specific shocks such of illness, but more importantly also community level shocks such as natural disasters in form of droughts, storms and floods. Natural disasters are of particular importance to these livelihoods and changes in the frequency and severity of such shocks, e.g. as a consequence of changing climate may lead to increased food insecurity. At the same time, it is generally acknowledged that the food systems and the very nature of the food security problem in the Caribbean countries are gradually changing, with food availability becoming less of an issue in most of the region. Instead, energy intensive and unbalanced diets leading to overweight and obesity is increasingly becoming the key food security challenge, even so among households considered vulnerable of becoming food insecure. This is confirmed by the study, looking at anthropometric data collected from the participating households