1,720,970 research outputs found
The Importance of Specification Choices When Analyzing Sectoral Productivity Gaps
No full textA consistent finding in the development literature is that average non-farm labor productivity is higher than average farm labor productivity. These differences in average productivity are sometimes used to promote policies which advance the non-farm sector. In this paper, we analyze the importance of two specification choices when comparing productivity gaps, using detailed household panel data from Malawi. Importantly, we are able to calculate both average revenue products (ARPLs) – similar to most of the sectoral productivity gap literature – as well as marginal revenue products (MRPLs). We show that the choice of productivity measure combined with the choice of production function specification can lead to different sectoral productivity rankings. MRPLs from translog production functions suggest the household farm sector is more productive than the household non-farm sector, while MRPLs from a Cobb-Douglas and ARPLs from both a translog and a Cobb-Douglas find the opposite ranking
the case of rural Cote d'Ivoire
Full text linkThesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Public Policy, 2022In rural economies, how do weather extremes affect agricultural production and household welfare? Using Cote d’Ivoire’s Harmonized Survey of Household Living Conditions 2018-2019 data conducted by the Institut National de la Statistique (2018), I investigated how households in rural zones that entirely depend on rainfall for their agricultural activities are affected. Using an OLS model, I estimate the effect of self-reported rainfall shock on household’s main crops (rice, maize, yam) production and their welfare in rural Cote d’Ivoire. The result from the analysis shows that households that reported weather shock observe a decrease of 25% and 18% in yam and rice production, 8% and 3.2% in non-food consumption and consumption expenditure compared to the household that did not face rainfall shock. If nothing is done household that undergo weather shock could see their ability to send their children to school or subscribe to healthcare service reduce. These results could also lead children of those households drop from school and increase in farming works or other activities.
This study contributes to the few literatures that used self-reported weather shock to assess household’s level of poverty in rural zones.I. INTRODUCTION
II. BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS STUDIES
III. DATA AND METHODOLOGY
IV. EMPIRICAL STRATEGY
V. RESULTSmasterpublishedHerve AZI
Impacts of official development assistance (ODA) on basic living conditions in Madagascar
Full text linkThesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Public Management, 2022Madagascar is classed among the poorest country in the world, ranked 208th out of 213 countries in terms of GDP per capita. The country is classed in the low-income category with a GDP per capita of 495.49 US dollar in 2020. It is estimated that 75% of people in Madagascar live on less than $1.90 per day. The country is weak and fragile in responding to economic, social or political shocks; that is the reason why external assistance is principally needed. In this context, this study conducts in-depth analysis on this area, to present the effects of external assistance (ODA) on basic living conditions of the population in terms of income, education, health and infrastructures. The results indicate a positive relationship between Oda and Income, Education and Infrastructures; nonetheless, there is a negative relationship between Oda and Crude Death Rate, controlling for main changes years in the data.INTRODUCTION
PART I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND BACKGROUND
PART II: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
LIMITATION AND CONCLUSIONmasterpublishedAndrianony NY AINA IANJATIN
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Three Essays on Labor and Government Policy in Developing Countries
Full text linkThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2018In this dissertation, I examine household labor allocation in two developing countries: India and Malawi. I focus on the interaction between government policies and household labor allocation decisions. The first and second papers look at labor allocation and an Indian government program, while the first and third papers explore labor allocation to non-farm self-employment. In the first paper, I analyze the effects of an increase in the rural wage in India -- induced by the government's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) -- on non-farm self-employment. Households significantly decrease labor allocation to non-farm self-employment following implementation of the program. Moreover, this effect is higher in areas with higher rainfall variation, which I use as a proxy for agricultural production risk. Taken together, these findings support the view that many non-farm enterprises are subsistence enterprises, started due to a lack of remunerative labor opportunities and to diversify production risk. In the second paper, I continue analyzing the effects of NREGS. Using a unique dataset with GPS location data, I show that the wage effects of the program are spatially heterogeneous. The wage effects are largest on the interior of treated districts, far from untreated areas. In contrast, areas on the border between treated and untreated areas see no wage increase at all. Estimates suggest labor is mobile on a daily basis in a radius of around 15 to 20 kilometers. In the third paper, coauthor Peter Brummund and I study labor allocation across agricultural and non-farm production in Malawian households. Economic theory suggests that households should equate the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) across productive activities within the household. We test this assumption by estimating production functions for agricultural and non-farm production. We show that MRPL in agricultural production is significantly higher than MRPL in non-farm production. Moreover, consistent with a large body of literature on the sectoral productivity gap, we show that the average product of labor is higher in non-farm production. These results suggest a rethinking of how we measure the sectoral productivity gap may be warranted
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Labor Elasticities, Market Failures, and Misallocation: Evidence from Indian Agriculture
Full text linkAir Pollution and Agricultural Productivity in a Developing Country
No full textI document negative externalities of air pollution in the Indian agricultural sector. Using variation in pollution induced by changes in wind across years, I show that higher levels of pollution lead to decreased agricultural productivity, with large changes in productivity being common. The negative effects of pollution are larger in areas growing more labor-intensive crops, indicating that the pollution works at least partly through direct effects on labor productivity. Finally, combining wind direction with the rollout of coal plants, results indicate that pollution from coal plants has a larger effect on agricultural productivity than other types of pollution. Given that the agricultural sector is a refuge for the poor in many developing countries, these results suggest that the negative externalities of pollution may hit the poorest particularly hard
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