Cultivator households in some developing areas use off-farm labor supply as an insurance against crop income shocks, whilst employment is uncertain in this off-farm labor market. This paper hypothesizes that, given limited opportunities for ex post consumption smoothing, employment uncertainty...

In this paper, we use data from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) survey of households in Burkina Faso, to assess market efficiency. Two methods based on testable implications of the Agricultural Household Model (AHM) are used. The first is based on...

This dissertation includes three essays that consider the role of quality variation within agricultural production when consumers are heterogeneous in their preferences for quality. The first essay, 'The Welfare Benefits of USDA Beef Quality Certification Programs,' estimates the consumer...