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Category: Development

Published October 26, 2011

Smallholder Participation in Contract Farming: Comparative Evidence from Five Countries

That’s the title of a forthcoming article of mine (co-authored with Chris Barrett, Maren Elise Bachke, Hope Michelson, Sudha Narayanan, and Tom Walker) in World Development, in which we lay out a conceptual framework to study the participation of farm households in agricultural value chains in developing countries and survey the recent empirical evidence on the topic.

Here is the abstract:

Supermarkets, specialized wholesalers, processors, and agro-exporters are transforming the marketing channels into which smallholder farmers sell produce in low-income economies. We develop a conceptual framework with which to study contracting between smallholders and a commodity-processing firm. We then synthesize results from empirical studies of contract farming arrangements in five countries (Ghana, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nicaragua). The resulting meta-narrative documents patterns of participation, the welfare gains associated with participation, reasons for nonparticipation, the significant extent of contract noncompliance, and the considerable dynamism of these value chains as farmers and firms enter and exit frequently.

Published October 25, 2011

Looking for the Next Big Research Questions in Development Economics?

A little more than a year ago, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences commissioned 54 papers from leading economists on long-term research agendas. That is, on questions that are “likely to drive next generation research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.”

If I were a second-year Ph.D. student looking for a set of great research questions, I would be all over these. I certainly wish that the emphasis on applied theory Esther Duflo foresees in development economics had been in fashion when I hit the market in 2006!

Here is a list of the papers that should be of interest to readers of this blog:

Continue readingLooking for the Next Big Research Questions in Development Economics?
Published October 21, 2011

Health Insurance: Learning from Emerging Economies

Perhaps surprisingly, the most interesting incentives have been developed in an emerging economy: South Africa. The Discovery group, based in Johannesburg, has crafted a programme called Vitality that applies the “air miles” model to health care. You earn points by exercising, buying healthy food or hitting certain targets. You rise through various levels, from blue to gold, as you accumulate points (rewards are adjusted to your starting level of fitness to give everybody a chance of making progress). And you are given a mixture of short- and long-term rewards ranging from reduced premiums to exotic holidays.

Continue readingHealth Insurance: Learning from Emerging Economies