Agnes R. Quisumbing

The Impact of Improving Nutrition During Early Childhood on Education Among Guatemalan Adults

Using a longitudinal survey from rural Guatemala, we examine the effect of an early childhood nutritional intervention on adult educational outcomes. An intent-to-treat model yields substantial effects of an experimental intervention that provided highly nutritious food supplements to children, a quarter century after it ended: increases of 1.2 grades completed for women and one quarter SD on standardised reading comprehension and non-verbal cognitive ability tests for both women and men. Two-stage least squares results that endogenise the actual supplement intakes corroborate these magnitudes. Improving the nutrient intakes of very young children can have substantial, long-term, educational consequences.

Male-female differences in agricultural productivity: Methodological issues and empirical evidence

Abstract Most estimates of male-female differences in technical efficiency from production function studies show that male and female farmers are equally efficient farm managers, controlling for levels of inputs and human capital. There is some evidence, however, of allocative inefficiency within households. Marginal products of labor depend on the relative scarcities of labor and the gender division of labor in specific farming systems. Many of these studies, however, are methodologically flawed. Greater attention needs to be given to appropriate estimation methods, endogenous input choice, the use of headship as a stratifying variable, and the implications of intrahousehold resource allocation.

Gender, Property Rights, and Natural Resources

This paper analyzes the ways in which gender issues affect property rights and the use of natural resources in developing countries. It examines the informal practices of resource use, usually involving multiple uses by multiple users. Traditional systems of access to land, water, and trees reflect complex dynamics among community members that must be understood in order to design successful policy interventions concerning natural resources. Drawing on examples from developing countries worldwide, the paper identifies broad patterns in how property rights are determined. It discusses the effects of privatization and commoditization of resources, and it identifies key issues to consider in the context of proposed resource management programs.

Human Capital, Productivity, and Labor Allocation in Rural Pakistan

This paper investigates whether human capital affects the productivity and labor allocation of rural households in four districts of Pakistan. The investigation shows that households with better-educated males earn higher off-farm income and divert labor resources away from farm activities toward nonfarm work. Education has no significant effect on productivity in crop and livestock production. The effect of human capital on household incomes is partly realized through the reallocation of labor from low-productivity activities to nonfarm work. Female education and nutrition do not affect productivity and labor allocation in any systematic fashion, a finding that is consistent with the marginal role women play in market-oriented activities in Pakistan. As a by-product, our estimation approach also tests the existence of perfect labor and factor markets; the hypothesis that such markets exist is strongly rejected.

A review of empirical evidence on gender differences in nonland agricultural inputs, technology, and services in developing countries

Empirical research on gender dimensions in agricultural inputs has focused on land. This chapter reviews existing microeconomic empirical literature from the past 10 years on gender differences in use, access, and adoption of nonland agricultural inputs in developing countries. The review focuses on three key areas: (1) technological resources, (2) natural resources, and (3) human resources. In general, there has been more empirical research on inorganic fertilizer, seed varieties, and extension services than on tools and mechanization and life-cycle effects, and most of the studies are from Sub-Saharan Africa. A consistent finding is that, across different types of inputs, men generally have higher input measures than women, and that this input gap is responsible for observed productivity differences between men and women; however, this finding is often sensitive to the use of models that control for other background factors, as well as the type of gender indicator implemented in the analysis. The final section presents future directions, opportunities, and recommendations for microeconomic gender analysis of nonland agricultural inputs.

Adult consequences of growth failure in early childhood

Background: Growth failure is associated with adverse consequences, but studies need to control adequately for confounding. Objective: We related height-for-age z scores (HAZs) and stunting at age 24 mo to adult human capital, marriage, fertility, health, and economic outcomes. Design: In 2002–2004, we collected data from 1338 Guatemalan adults (aged 25–42 y) who were studied as children in 1969–1977. We used instrumental variable regression to correct for estimation bias and adjusted for potentially confounding factors. Results: A 1-SD increase in HAZ was associated with more schooling (0.78 grades) and higher test scores for reading and nonverbal cognitive skills (0.28 and 0.25 SDs, respectively), characteristics of marriage partners (1.39 y older, 1.02 grade more schooling, and 1.01 cm taller) and, for women, a higher age at first birth (0.77 y) and fewer number of pregnancies and children (0.63 and 0.43, respectively). A 1-SD increase in HAZ was associated with increased household per capita expenditure (21%) and a lower probability of living in poverty (10 percentage points). Conversely, being stunted at 2 y was associated with less schooling, a lower test performance, a lower household per capita expenditure, and an increased probability of living in poverty. For women, stunting was associated with a lower age at first birth and higher number of pregnancies and children. There was little relation between either HAZ or stunting and adult health. Conclusion: Growth failure in early life has profound adverse consequences over the life course on human, social, and economic capital.

The gender implications of large-scale land deals

This article introduces a discussion of gender dimensions into the growing debate on large-scale land deals. It addresses the current information gap on the differential gender effects of large-scale land deals through (1) an overview of the phases of large-scale land deals and discussion of related effects on rural men and women based on new literature on large-scale land deals and past literature on the gender effects of commercialization and contract farming; (2) a presentation of further evidence using several case studies on the gender effects of large-scale deals; and (3) a conclusion that looks at knowledge gaps and areas for further research as well as broad recommendations for gender equitable large-scale land deals.

Are women overrepresented among the poor? An analysis of poverty in 10 developing countries

Abstract This paper presents new evidence on the proportion of women in poverty in 10 developing countries. It compares poverty measures for males and females, and for male- and female-headed households, and investigates the sensitivity of these measures to the use of per capita and per adult equivalent units and different definitions of the poverty line. While poverty measures are higher for female-headed households and for females, the differences are significant in only a fifth to a third of the datasets. The contribution of female-headed households to aggregate poverty is less than that of females, due to the low population share of the former. Stochastic dominance analysis reveals that differences between male- and female-headed households, and between males and females, are often insignificant, except for Ghana and Bangladesh, where females are consistently worse-off. These results suggest that cultural and institutional factors may be responsible for higher poverty among women in these countries. Our results point to the need to analyze determinants of household income and consumption using multivariate methods, and to give greater attention to the processes underlying female headship.

The Impact of Nutrition during Early Childhood on Education among Guatemalan Adults

Early childhood nutrition is thought to have important effects on education, broadly defined to include various forms of learning. We advance beyond previous literature on the effect of early childhood nutrition on education in developing countries by using unique longitudinal data begun during a nutritional experiment during early childhood with educational outcomes measured in adulthood. Estimating an intent-to-treat model capturing the effect of exposure to the intervention from birth to 36 months, our results indicate significantly positive, and fairly substantial, effects of the randomized nutrition intervention a quarter century after it ended: increased grade attainment by women (1.2 grades) via increased likelihood of completing primary school and some secondary school; speedier grade progression by women; a one-quarter SD increase in a test of reading comprehension with positive effects found for both women and men; and a one-quarter SD increase on nonverbal cognitive tests scores. There is little evidence of heterogeneous impacts with the exception being that exposure to the intervention had a larger effect on grade attainment and reading comprehension scores for females in wealthier households. The findings are robust to an array of alternative estimators of the standard errors and controls for sample attrition.

Women’s Land Rights in the Transition to Individualized Ownership: Implications for Tree‐Resource Management in Western Ghana*

This study explores the impact of evolutionary changes in land-tenure institutions on womens land rights and the efficiency of tree-resource management in western Ghana where cocoa is the dominant crop. Under matrilineal traditions land is transferred from a dead man to his brother or nephew (sisters son) in accordance with the decision of the extended family or matrilineal clan. Recently husbands have increasingly been transferring land to their wives and children as a gift during their own lifetime. The author’s hypothesis is that the incidence of gifts increases in areas where matrilineal inheritance is practiced in order to strengthen individual land rights. Using household-level data on land acquisition and field data on cocoa-tree planting and yields from 60 Akan villages the authors test that hypothesis. Their findings suggest that gift transactions usually in return for labor on a husband’s cocoa plot are the most important mode of land acquisition for women. Legal reform as illustrated by the Intestate Succession Law of 1985 also provide women with the means of obtaining access to their husband’s land.