In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis in the rural development literature on the multiple income-generating activities undertaken by rural households and the importance of assets in determining the capacity to undertake these activities. Controlling for endogeneity choice and...

This paper analyzes the impact of participation in multi-stakeholder platforms (Plataformas) aimed at linking smallholder potato farmers to the market in the mountain region of Ecuador. It describes and evaluates the Plataformas’ program to determine whether it has been successful in linking...

This article proposes a general pattern of rural development in which rises in per capita income are associated with a decline in the importance of agricultural production and a rise in the importance of non-agricultural income sources. Following the approach to examining Engel’s Law, we use...

This paper assesses the current rural development practice against the main trends in recent rural development thinking, based on evidence from four country case studies. While much progress has been made in understanding the need to look beyond only agriculture for the promotion of productive...

Prior research on Mexican migration has shown that social networks and economic incentives play an important role in determining migration outcomes. This study utilizes experimental data on PROGRESA, Mexico's primary poverty reduction program, to evaluate the effects of public cash transfers on...

This paper examines the PROGRESA and PROCAMPO cash transfer programs in Mexico and evaluates their impact on household food security and nutrition. These two programs differ in their gender targeting, with PROGRESA aimed at women and PROCAMPO generally at men, and program conditionality, with...

This paper explores the relationship between social capital and crop diversity. The study is conducted in an area of Ethiopia where inter-specific diversity is significant and that diversity includes crops that are of important in terms of their genetic value since it is a center of origin or...

In this paper, we examine how the design of cash transfer schemes influences household welfare outcomes with particular reference to the influence of transfers on conditioned outcomes, such as schooling, health and investment. We do this by examining two innovative cash transfer schemes...

Access to assets and agrarian institutions is of critical importance to the economic viability of rural households. Understanding the extent of this access and how it links to the ability of rural households to employ different pathways out of poverty is thus vital for designing rural...

In this paper, we examine whether the causes and patterns of Mexican rural female migration differ significantly from rural male migration. A number of hypotheses are discussed to explain why female migration may differ from male migration, with a particular emphasis on the role of migrant...