Summary This study tests the null hypothesis that it is sufficient to interview only the household head to obtain accurate information on household income. Results show that using a husband's estimate of his wife's income does not produce statistically reliable results for poverty analysis....

This study tests the null hypothesis that it is sufficient to interview only the household head to obtain accurate information on household income. The results show that using a husband's estimate of his wife's income does not produce statistically reliable results for poverty analysis....

This article examines the determinants of activity choice affecting forest use among low-income households in Malawi. Data from three villages are used to estimate a system of household labor share equations for maize production, forest employment, and non-forest employment. A system estimation...

In the U.S., people are more likely to be poor if they live in a nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) than in a metropolitan (metro) area. A common explanation for this phenomenon is that nonmetro places offer relatively few economic and social opportunities. This article explores another plausible...

This study uses new data from a household survey (n=179) in Mulanje District, Malawi to examine whether the observed adoption plateaus for modern maize varieties in Malawi partly reflect farmer interest in a diversity of maize seed attributes. Regression results for the study area indicate that...

This study examines how socio-economic characteristics of households, local conditions, and public programmes are associated with the probability that a farm household in rural Malawi is food insecure. The statistical analysis uses nationally representative data for 8350 randomly-selected...

Summary Data from rural Malawi are used to assess the role of forests in rural household adaptation to climate variability, and to examine implications for adaptation to future climate change. Although forests do not currently play a role in anticipatory adaptation by rural households, they do...

Urbanization presents both opportunities and challenges for farmers and farm-supporting sectors on the urban fringe. This paper examines the effects of urbanization on the viability of input suppliers and output processors and on the cost and profitability of farming. An analytical model is...

Numerous high-yielding modern maize varieties have been developed for Malawi. However, their performance and returns when managed under real-world conditions are generally unknown. We have used new cross section data to generate insights into the performance of these maize varieties. We first...