In this paper, we revisit the contested issue of the impact of agricultural extension on farm production. We exploit two features of the data available to us: its longitudinal nature and explicit measures of farmer ability. We find that after controlling for innate productivity characteristics...

What keeps some people persistently poor, even in the context of relative high growth?  In this paper, we explore this question using a 15-year longitudinal data set from Ethiopia.  We compare the findings of an empirical growth model with those derived from a model of the determinants of...

This study examines the consequences of alternative relief and development interventions on the well being of households in rural Zimbabwe. It does so by: a) establishing a framework that links household resources to levels of poverty; b) validating the quantitative data with group wealth...