This paper combines household survey and census data to construct a provincial poverty map of Vietnam and evaluate the accuracy of geographically targeted anti-poverty programs. First, the paper estimates per capita expenditure as a function of selected household and geographic characteristics...

"Economic reform programs assume that major goods are tradable, such that depreciation of the real exchange rate raises the value of output compared to factor costs in domestic currency. In Tanzania, major food staples that account for most real income are non-tradables in at least one-quarter...

Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data. In some cases, however, statistical authorities are reluctant, for reasons of confidentiality, to release household-level census data. This paper examines the loss in...

Geographic targeting is often recommended as a way to improve the impact of social spending and infrastructure investments on rural poverty. Previous research shows that such targeting is not very accurate unless the geographic units are small. Household surveys, however, rarely allow the...

Viet Nam has undergone a profound transformation in recent years and, as a result of a series of macroeconomic and institutional reforms since 1986, it has made substantial progress toward becoming a market economy. As this transition continues, Viet Nam faces the challenge of formulating and...

Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have reduced or eliminated fertilizer subsidies and liberalized input marketing as part of the reform process that began in the early 1980s. The effect on fertilizer prices and use is one of the most frequently mentioned criticisms of liberalization. The...

This paper explores the effect of transaction costs on aggregate supply and demand and marketed surplus. A five-good non-separable household model is used to illustrate the effect of transaction costs on a generic African household. Then, the paper examines the aggregate behavior of a market...

"This study examines the sources of crop income growth in Indian agriculture over the 1980s and 1990s. Using a method developed by Minot (2003), the analysis decomposes crop income growth into the contribution of yield increases, area expansion, price increases, and diversification from...

"In Tanzania, as in many other developing countries, the conventional wisdom is that economic reforms may have stimulated economic growth, but that the benefits of this growth have been uneven, favoring urban households and farmers with good market access. This idea, although quite plausible,...

World cotton prices have fallen by about 40 percent over the last two years, focusing attention on the effect of subsidies for cotton growers in depressing prices. This paper combines farm survey data from Benin with assumptions about the decline in farm-level prices to estimate the direct and...