Agriculture, Food Security, and the Environment: Three Essays on Microeconomic Challenges in Rural Development

Rural households in developing countries face numerous economic challenges as they try to improve their livelihood through agriculture. This research addresses three of the most pressing issues: management of scarce input resources, selection of optimal crop mix, and post-harvest storage decisions. In each case I develop theoretical models which provide insights on these challenges and ground the empirical work. Results from this research provide direction for policymakers on how to ease constraints in household development

Agriculture in the process of development: A micro-perspective

This paper compares national-level data from India with 40 years of household panel data from rural India to track sectoral changes in employment and income as well as examine the hypothesis of induced innovation in agricultural production. In the national data, India appears to be in the midst of a structural transformation. The share of agriculture in GDP and employment has shrunk while agricultural output continues to grow. This productivity growth appears to adhere to the induced innovation hypothesis, as productivity per hectare has increased more rapidly than productivity per worker. Many of the same patterns exist in the household data. Tracking households across time, I observe agricultural output has increased, despite more households engaging in off-farm labor. Household agricultural production is highly specialized and has increased its reliance on improved inputs. However, while agricultural income has grown, industrial and service income has remained stagnant, and the relative income of these households has declined in recent years. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.24 month embargo; published online: 6 February 2020This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Persistence in Ethiopia

This article answers the empirical question: what is the relationship between the choice to specialize or diversify in crop production and household poverty status? We use household panel data from Ethiopia and a recently developed parametric method for estimating dynamic binary response models with endogenous contemporaneous regres- sors. Our results provide evidence that households which grow a diverse set of crops are less likely to be poor. Additionally, crop diversity reduces the probability that a house- hold will fall into poverty and reduces the probability that a household will remain in poverty. We conclude that policies which encourage households to specialize in cash crops may be counter-productive while policies which encourage crop diversification may reduce poverty

Ulysses' pact or Ulysses' raft: Using pre‐analysis plans in experimental and nonexperimental research

Economists have recently adopted preanalysis plans in response to concerns about robustness and transparency in research. The increased use of registered preanalysis plans has raised competing concerns that detailed plans are costly to create, overly restrictive, and limit the type of inspiration that stems from exploratory analysis. We consider these competing views of preanalysis plans, and make a careful distinction between the roles of preanalysis plans and registries, which provide a record of all planned research. We propose a flexible “packraft” preanalysis plan approach that offers benefits for a wide variety of experimental and nonexperimental applications in applied economics.12 month embargo; first published: 09 January 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]