This paper studies how the internal structure of agriculture export markets and the level of competition affect poverty and welfare in rural areas in Africa. We develop a game-theory model of supply chains in cash crop agriculture between many atomistic smallholders and a few exporters. The...

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an...

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Abstract -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- References -- Part I: The Welfare Impact of Agricultural Supply Chains, Market Structure and Farm Constraints -- Chapter 2: A Model of Agricultural Supply Chains, Market Structure and Farm Constraints -- 2.1 Cash Crop Exports...

"This paper explores an empirical methodology to assess the impacts of trade reforms on household behavior in developing countries. It focuses on consumption and income responses: when price reforms take place, households modify consumption and production decisions and local labor markets...

To many, reducing water losses is seen as key to more sustainable water management. The arguments to reduce water losses are compelling, but reducing water losses has turned out to be challenging. This paper applies a panel data analysis with fixed effects to determine the major drivers of...

Aid is good for the poor. This paper uses detailed aid data spanning 60 developing countries over the past two decades to show that social aid significantly and directly benefits the poorest in society, while economic aid increases the income of the poor through growth. This new and unequivocal...

This paper uses the gravity model to analyze whether the varying export performance of Croatian counties can be explained by their proximity to border gates, ports, and other county-specific characteristics. The analysis finds that longer distances to border gates increase trade frictions...

Extension services are a keystone of information diffusion in agriculture. This paper exploits a large randomized controlled trial to track diffusion of a new technique in the classic Training and Visit (T&V) extension model, relative to a more direct training model. In both control and...