FAO.org

This paper sketches prevailing development paradigms, i.e. the definition of modalities to achieve development, based on either a codified set of activities and/or based on a vision regarding the functioning and evolution of a socio-economic system.  The exercise intends to contribute to the interpretation of recent past and ongoing development processes and policies and to support the exploration of alternative development paradigms to address emerging and future development issues. This paper is part of the FAO Policy series: EASYPol-Resources for policy making (in agriculture, rural development and food security). To find other EASYPol series' resources, go to the Policy Support and Governance [...]

This paper reviews rural women’s access to financial services, a key factor of successful rural development strategies. Designing appropriate financial products for women to be able to save, borrow and insure is essential to strengthen women’s role as producers and widen the economic opportunities available to them. For this purpose it is essential to understand how context-specific legal rights, social norms, family responsibilities and women’s access to and control over other resources shape their need for capital and their ability to obtain it. The paper argues that it is important that development strategies that aim to boost rural women’s productive [...]

After sketching the mutual links between economic growth, agriculture, technology, poverty reduction and external factors, this paper analyses the implications of recent international price shocks on welfare and growth, notably energy and agricultural products, for Burkina Faso, a less industrialised, low-income, food-deficit, net oil-importing country. The socio-economic impacts of the above-mentioned external shocks are analysed by means of a Computable General Equilibrium model (CGE). The paper also discusses the extent to which technological changes in agriculture, specifically the introduction of “Good Agricultural Practices” (GAP) towards “conservation agriculture”, could mitigate the welfare and growth losses derived by international price shocks.  Additionally, it is shown [...]

This issue paper aims at introducing selected analytical approaches for quantitative analysis of the socio-economic impacts of policies. In the first part of the document, after considering a set of basic questions that a quantitative policy impact analysis has usually to address in order to be useful for informing decision-making processes; some definitions and insights on policy-relevant elements such as policy objectives, policy instruments and impact models are provided. The document then briefly describes the use of counterfactual analysis for socio-economic policy impact analysis. The second part of the work focuses on the review of selected quantitative analytical approaches frequently applied [...]

This analytical tool illustrates the concept of social welfare and the possible ways to define social welfare functions. In particular, it deals with how to pass from inequality to social welfare analysis and how social welfare analysis may embody different attitudes with regard to inequality aversion. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples are also discussed to give operational content to the tool. For more information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Generalised Lorenz Curves. [...]

This analytical tool illustrates the concept of weighting samples in survey analysis. In particular, it deals with: a) the concept of weights and inflation factors; b) why weights are important in calculating statistical measures; c) how disregarding weights may lead to misleading results in empirical analysis. This paper is part of the FAO Policy series: EASYPol-Resources for policy making (in agriculture, rural development and food security). You can find other EASYPol series' resources in the Resources section of this website, typing "EASYPol" in the free text search.

This module illustrates the simplest ways to measure inequality drawing on the statistical concepts of location, shape and variability. In particular, the following measures will be addressed: a) the range; b) the relative mean deviation; c) the variance; d) the coefficient of variation; and e) the standard deviation of logharitms. For all these measures, step-by-step procedures and numerical examples are also discussed. For more information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Policy Impacts on Inequality: Inequality and Axioms for its Measurement. EASYPol Series 054 This [...]

This tool illustrates the concept of desirable properties any inequality index should respect. In particular, it introduces the distinction between a positive and a normative approach to inequality analysis. Then, it discusses the role of axioms in inequality measurement and their conceptual meaning. Finally, using the Gini Index and the variance, a step-by-step procedure and numerical examples are introduced for operational purposes. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: [...]

This analytical tool illustrates how to decompose inequality measures by income sources. In particular, it discusses this decomposition in the context of the Gini and the Theil Indexes. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples give operational content to the tool. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Describing Income Inequality. Theil Index and Entropy Class Indexes. EASYPol Series 051 Policy Impacts on Inequality: Decomposition of Income Inequality by Subgroups. EASYPol Series 052 This paper is part of [...]

This analytical tool illustrates how to decompose inequality measures by subgroups of populations. In particular, it defines the concepts of within and between inequality and analyses how different inequality indexes perform with respect to this decomposition. In particular, the performance of the analysis of variance, the Gini Index and the Theil Index will be discussed. A step-by-step procedure and numerical examples give operational content to the tool. For further information, see also: Charting Income Inequality. The Lorenz Curve. EASYPol Series 000 Social Welfare Analysis of Income Distributions: Ranking Income Distributions with Lorenz Curves. EASYPol Series 001 Inequality Analysis: The Gini Index. EASYPol Series 040 Describing [...]