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Publications
Food aid as part of a coherent strategy to advance food security objectives
05/2006
This paper outlines a coherent strategy for the use of food aid in addressing food insecurity. It surveys recent literature on poverty traps, the rights-based approach to food security and discusses where food aid fits into an integrated analysis of poverty and food security.
Less-favoured areas – Looking beyond agriculture towards ecosystem services
05/2006
This paper surveys the economic literature on the impacts of food aid on recipient countries. The paper reviews the conceptual and empirical challenges associated with evaluating the impacts of food aid and surveys the main analytical techniques that are used in such evaluations.
The experience of conditional cash transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean
05/2006
This paper discusses the experience of six conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America, a model of social safety nets which have grown to dominate the social protection sector in the region over the last 10 years.
Choosing to migrate or migrating to choose – Migration and labour choice in Albania
05/2006
While sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, and the management of migration flows are among the most pressing items on the policy agenda in Albania, very little systematic analysis exists of the income generating strategies of Albanian household
Food aid's intended and unintended consequences
05/2006
This paper surveys the existing empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of food aid. Micro-level evidence is presented on the impacts of food aid deliveries on household labour supply, production incentives, consumption patterns and natural resource use.
When are payments for environmental services beneficial to the poor?
04/2006
The impact of payment for environmental services (PES) on poverty varies. Generally, PES is good for landowners and may negatively affect consumers if food demand is inelastic.
An assessment of the impact of increasing wheat self-sufficiency and promoting cash-transfer subsidies for consumers in Egypt – A multi-market model
03/2006
Wheat is central to the government of Egypts food security policy which is based on increasing self-sufficiency in wheat on the one hand and subsidizing bread for consumers on the other hand.
Household income structure and determinants in rural Egypt
02/2006
Egypt is on track to achieve its long-term goal of reducing the poverty rate to 6 percent by 2022. Continued progress towards this goal will require rapid employment growth for which agriculture growth, through its impact on demand for goods and services in the rural non-tradable sector will be of fundamental importance.
Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger – Towards a coherent policy agenda
01/2006
Alleviating hunger and poverty has been and continues to be the pre-dominant policy challenge facing global and national decision makers. This paper argues that policy interventions for addressing this challenge should be designed in the context of emerging global, regional and national trends.
Agricultural policy and food security in Liberia
09/2005
Improving access to food through broad-based participation in income-generating activities in key agricultural supply chains, together with the development of safety nets that protect the welfare of Liberias diverse types of vulnerable individuals and households represent two of the major food security challenges facing the Liberian government after fourteen years of civil conflict.
Measuring food security using respondents' perception of food consumption adequacy
09/2005
Food security is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. As such, its measurement may entail and benefit from the combination of both “qualitative-subjective” and “quantitative-objective” indicators. Yet, the evidence on the external validity of subjective-type information is scarce, especially using representative household surveys.
From the green revolution to the gene revolution: how will the poor fare?
09/2005
The past four decades have seen two waves of agricultural technology development and diffusion to developing countries. The first wave was initiated by the Green Revolution in which an explicit strategy for technology development and diffusion targeting poor farmers in poor countries made improved germplasm freely available as a public good.
Commercializing small farms – Reducing transaction cost
09/2005
Broad changes are taking place in agrifood systems worldwide. These changes are driven by economic development, increase in per caput incomes, changing technology and urbanization.
Tomorrow's hunger – A framework for analysing vulnerability to food insecurity
09/2005
While traditional food security analysis offers an ex post view on who the food insecure are and why they are so, looking at food insecurity from a vulnerability perspective provides a dynamic and forward-looking way of analysing causes and, more importantly, options for reducing food insecurity.
Measuring technical efficiency of wheat farmers in Egypt
07/2005
Liberalization of Egyptian agricultural policy and new wheat technology has led to significant increases in area allocated to wheat as well as wheat yields. The wheat self-sufficiency ratio increased from 21 percent in 1986 to about 59 percent over the 2001-03 period.
Food aid: a primer
06/2005
As an introduction to food aid this paper reviews various definitions of food aid and terminology used by practitioners and academics. It also briefly examines the size of food aid relative to Official Development Assistance, trade and food production in recipient countries and recognizes that in many instances food aid may play an important role in issues related to food security.
Transaction costs, institutions and smallholder market integration – Potato producers in Peru
06/2005
The paper analyses the impacts of transaction costs on the degree of household market integration using survey data collected from smallholder potato farmers located in the Peruvian Andes.
Familiar faces, familiar places: the role of family networks and previous experience for Albanian migrants
03/2005
Using data from the 2003 Albania Panel Survey, this paper examines the evolution of Albanian international migration since the fall of Communism in 1990 and explores, using multivariate analysis, what individual, household and community level factors influence decisions to migrate internationally.
Moving away from poverty – A spatial analysis of poverty and migration in Albania
03/2005
This paper analyses recent patterns of migration and poverty in Albania, a country that ‑ following the collapse of the communist regime in 1990 – has been experiencing high migration rates.
Monitoring poverty without consumption data – An application using the Albania panel survey
02/2005
In developing countries poverty is generally measured with expenditure data. Such data are difficult and costly to obtain and it is generally recommended to collect them every 3-5 years. In between surveys, however, there is a clear need to provide policymakers with information for the monitoring of poverty trends.