Risk often inhibits on-farm investment by smallholder farmers. Recent evidence indicates that index insurance and stress tolerant seeds can separately and partially offset this risk effect. In this study, we explore whether the complementarities between these two risk management technologies can...

The Green Revolution bolstered agricultural yields and rural well-being in Asia and Latin America, but bypassed sub-Saharan Africa. We study the first randomized controlled trial of a government-implemented input subsidy program (ISP) in Africa. A temporary subsidy for Mozambican maize farmers...

In discussing the paradoxical violation of expected utility theory that now bears his name, Maurice Allais noted that individuals tend to "greatly value" payoffs that are certain. Allais' observation would seem to imply that people will undervalue insurance relative to the predictions of...

This paper examines whether agricultural insurance can boost investment by small scale farmers in West Africa. We conduct a randomized evaluation to analyze the impacts of index insurance for cotton farmers in Burkina Faso. We find no impact of insurance on cotton, but, consistent with...

We explore the impact of violence on perceived prospects of upward mobility. For a sample of victims of violence in Colombia, we bring together data on expected upward mobility, exposure to violence, and symptoms of psychological trauma. After controlling for material losses and current...

The political left turn in Latin America, which lagged its transition to liberalized market economies by a decade or more, challenges conventional economic explanations of voting behavior. This paper generalizes the forward-looking voter model to a broad range of dynamic, non-concave income...

Despite its promise to help low-wealth households manage climate risk, index insurance remains hampered by downside basis risk, meaning that an insured party suffers a loss, but receives no payment because the insurance index fails to register a loss. While efforts to reduce basis risk focus on...

Poverty reduction programs modeled on BRAC's graduation approach build up both tangible productive assets and intangible psychosocial assets such as self-confidence and the aspiration for upward mobility. The goal of this paper is to better understand how psychosocial factors operate and shape...

The novel insurance contracts for crop losses and livestock mortality that have been developed in low income countries typically protect against shocks in the male sphere of economic activity. Often overlooked are women, the particularities of their indirect exposure to this risk, and their...