This paper attempts to determine the municipal level impact of the 1994 Law 142 water and sewerage services reforms on child mortality and service coverage. The objective of these reforms was to transfer service provision from the municipalities to specialized companies. These reforms were...

This paper estimates the causal effect of maternal participation in adult literacy programs on child mortality in rural Ghana, taking into account the possible endogeneity of program participation and endogenous program placement. Adult literacy program participation has a substantial impact on...

We examine the effect of social institutions related to gender inequality on development outcomes. By characterizing and applying the recently developed Social Institution and Gender Index (SIGI) and its sub-components, we show how social institutions related to gender inequality are associated...

The belief in occult forces is still deeply rooted in many African societies, regardless of education, religion, and social class of the people concerned. According to many Africans its incidence is even increasing due to social stress and strain caused (among others) by the process of...

Reducing postharvest losses (PHL) is a key pathway to food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, knowledge of PHL magnitudes is limited. A meta-analysis has been conducted to expose nature and magnitude of PHL, and the kinds of interventions that have been attempted to mitigate...

This study from Madagascar exploits local variation in the timing and organization of colonial settlement and missionary education to distinguish long-run effects of colonial institutions and human capital. Results indicate that only colonial institutions had robust impacts on local economic...

Efforts to expand primary education have shifted from a policy focus on supply (building schools) to demand-side policies. Human capital theory posits that common demand-side obstacles are high direct costs, opportunity costs, and low perceived benefits—constructs that are difficult to measure...

Do targeted aid programs have unintended consequences outside of the target issue area? We investigate this question with an examination of one of the largest targeted aid programs in the world: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Critics of PEPFAR worry that a targeted...

Given Africa’s challenge of feeding a growing population, narrowing yield gaps is an efficient way of raising production under covariate constraints. Using household panel data from 21 regions in eight sub-Saharan African countries, this article unravels the determinants of yield gaps. It also...

Despite some progress in the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa’s participation in the global economy remains generally limited and poorly diversified. Among the various reasons behind the lack of competitiveness of Sub-Saharan Africa exports, this paper analyzes whether changes in market access...