Microcredit has expanded rapidly since its beginnings in the last 1970s, but whether and how much it reduces poverty is the subject of intense debate. Generally it depends on how the program is implemented and the set of policies that regulate it. In this spirit, microcredit impacts in the...

Most methodological materials and analyses of food security pertain to the classical developing countries of the world. In this paper we discuss the question what pattern of food insecurity has developed across the transition countries? And, are there specific characteristics of food insecurity...

At the Ministerial Conference in Doha, WTO member countries acknowledged the need to further correct the prevailing restrictions and distortions in agricultural world markets. The Ministerial Declaration of Doha reaffirms the commitment of creating a fair agricultural trading system that will...

This paper takes stock with the results of utility privatization in Bolivia. This paper deals with the process of structural reforms in this country and the specific results that have to date been accomplished in the electricity industry. It is mostly interested in exploring whether the...

The importance of food standards in global agricultural trade has increased strongly, but the effects are uncertain. Several studies argue that these standards imposed by high-income countries diminish the export opportunities for developing countries and concentrate the benefits of trade with...

During the 2004 food crisis in Niger, the weakness of the main production system, millet, to produce enough food to sustain short term crises, has been revealed. Questions arise how the Nigerian smallholder systems can be assisted by research and development policies to intensify production and...

This study estimates the effects on poverty resulting from maize price changes associated with the operations of the maize marketing board in Kenya. We consider both supply and demand responses and the accompanying adjustments in rural labor markets in estimating a second order approximation to...

This study evaluates the welfare implications of tariff reforms in the cereals sector of the SADC region. Applying the global simulation model (GSIM), a multi-country partial equilibrium model, to the cereals industries of thirteen SADC countries, the study computes price and welfare effects of...

Insufficient access to assets is the main determinant of poverty. We analyze the role of access to assets in explaining household labor allocation strategies, sources of income, levels of income achieved, and poverty headcount ratios among classes of Mexican rural households. To assess the gains...

This paper asks how NAFTA affected income distribution within Mexico considering changes in internalmigration. Trade liberalization should theoretically increase the income of low-skilled workers in low-skilled labor-abundantdeveloping countries. Thus, by increasing the wages of poorer workers,...