The role of health,experience, and educational attainment in agricultural production: Evidence from smallholders in Burkina Faso

We apply parametric and nonparametric methods to data from smallholders in Burkina Faso and assess the role that human capital characteristics play in the agricultural production process. Our results point to the technology‐changing nature of health, education, and experience. However, effects are rather heterogeneous. The productivity elasticity of health is much larger for households in the lowest landholding quintiles, while returns to experience are larger for households in the upper quintile. In terms of policy implications, our results suggest that productivity can be stimulated through the allocation of expenditure to social services that enhance certain types of human capital. Interventions aimed at improving the health status of households with smaller landholdings could have particularly strong welfare effects.     

Determinants of adoption of Internet in Africa: Case of 17 sub-Saharan countries

This study develops two-level hierarchical model that identifies factors that favor or hamper the use of Internet in Africa. We used data from a survey covering 17 African countries. Our results confirm that urbanization and the spread of Internet infrastructures play an important role in individual decisions to adopt this technology. They also reveal that an individual will have a larger probability to use Internet if he/she has at least completed primary education.Moreover, individual characteristics such as sex, age, level of education, and a social network membership greatly influence Internet adoption. Indeed, men are more likely to use Internet than women; this probability is larger if they are young (16–30 years old) or if they attained at least secondary education level or if they are members of a social network.     

Export Performance,Regional Demand,and the Prospects of Intra-West African Trade in Vegetable Oils

Abstract: The present paper assesses the relative roles of internal and external factors in the decline of groundnut trade by AGC countries. Furthermore, it analyses the determinants of regional vegetable oils demand and evaluates the extent to which regional exporters can benefit from the rapid expansion of demand on regional markets. Résumé: Ce document cherche à déterminer le rôle relatif des facteurs internes et externes dans le fléchissement du commerce de l'arachide entre les pays de l'AGC. Par ailleurs, son auteur analyse les causes détermhantes de la demande régionafe des huiles végétales et cherche àévaluer dans quelle mesure les exportateurs régionaux peuvent profiter de l'expansion rapide de la demande sur les marchés de la région     

The impact of agricultural research on productivity and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

While it is widely recognized that agricultural research is a key driver of broad-based technological change in agriculture that benefits the poor in many different ways, little is known about its aggregate impacts on productivity growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using a polynomial distributed lag structure for agricultural research within a simultaneous system of equations framework, this paper first demonstrates that agricultural research contributes significantly to productivity growth in SSA. Productivity growth is again shown to raise per capita incomes, with income increases finally having significant poverty-reducing effects. With an aggregate rate of return of 55%, the payoffs to agricultural research are also impressive. Agricultural research currently reduces the number of poor by 2.3 million or 0.8% annually. While the actual impacts are not large enough to more than offset the poverty-increasing effects of population growth and environmental degradation, the potential impacts of agricultural research are far greater. Apart from low research investments, SSA faces several constraints outside the research system that hinder realization of potential research benefits. The results show that doubling research investments in SSA would reduce poverty by 9% annually. However, this would not be realized without more efficient extension, credit, and input supply systems.     

Rotterdam model versus almost ideal demand system: will the best specification please stand up?

The Rotterdam model and the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) are often applied in consumer demand systems modeling. Using Monte Carlo techniques, we determine which model performs best in recovering the true elasticities of demand. The AIDS model is usually used in linearized form. Since the Rotterdam model is also linear in a very similar form, comparison of the Rotterdam model and the AIDS model has been the subject of much speculation in the literature. We not only compare the linearized AIDS model with the Rotterdam model, but also with the full nonlinear AIDS. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Malaria incidence and agricultural efficiency in Uganda

The cost of accessing healthcare can be a major determinant of disease prevalence, which in turn has short‐ and long‐term welfare implications on poor households. In response, governments in developing countries often resort to subsidizing the cost of drugs, which, while perhaps easier to administer, may not always be the most effective way of addressing healthcare cost. In this regard, we analyze the impact of different types of household level health expenses on disease incidence and agricultural production efficiency. We use data from the 2006 Uganda National Household Survey, which covered approximately 7,400 households. The results suggest that a 10% increase in consultation, medicine, and hospitalization expenses would reduce malaria incidence respectively by 35.6%, 20.5%, and 21.3 %, which translates into a 1.1%, 0.6%, and 0.6 % decrease in agricultural inefficiency, respectively. The results indicate that helping poor households meet expenses for consultation through subsidies or eliminating consultation fees has a larger impact on malaria incidence and agricultural productivity among poor rural households than subsidizing the cost of medical drugs, the most common avenue chosen by developing country governments in the fight against the disease.