Calogero Carletto

Hurricane Mitch and the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor in Honduras

Abstract This paper assesses the extent to which Hurricane Mitch affected the rural poor in Honduras and whether national and international aid efforts succeeded in providing relief. One of every two surveyed households incurred medical, housing, or other costs due to Mitch. One in three suffered from a loss in crops. One in five lost assets. One in 10 lost wages or business income. Relief was most often provided by churches and nongovernmental organizations. It consisted mainly of food, clothing, and medicine, and it amounted to less than one-tenth of the losses incurred by households.

A Country on the Move: International Migration in Post-Communist Albania

Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians live abroad, mostly in nearby Greece and Italy, with the vast majority coming from a limited number of districts located at the coastal and transport gateways to these destination countries, as well as Tirana. The available data also suggest that a similar number have considered migrating, and of these, half have tried and failed. Almost one-half of the children who since 1990 no longer live with their parents are now living abroad, a number of almost exodus proportions. This article also identifies clear patterns of temporary migration, with Greece being by far the most important destination and rural areas from the Center and NorthEast of the country being the primary origins of these flows. Although migration, with the resulting remittances, has become an indispensable part of Albanian economic development, there is increasing consensus on the necessity to devise more appropriate, sustainable strategies to lift households out of poverty and promote the countrys growth.

Investing Back Home: Return Migration and Business Ownership in Albania

In view of its increasing importance, and the dearth of information on return migration and its impacts on source households, this study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover, considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities for skill acquisition in different destination countries, the impact of household past migration experience is differentiated by main migrant destinations, namely Greece and Italy. The study also tests for the hypothesis of the existence of migration cycles, by differentiating the time spent abroad based on the year of return. The empirical results indicate that household past migration experience exerts a positive impact on the probability of owning a non-farm business. While one additional year in Greece increases the probability of household business ownership by roughly 7 percent, a similar experience in Italy or further destinations raises the probability by over 30 percent. Although past migration experience for the period 1990-2000 is positively associated with the likelihood of owning a household enterprise, a similar impact does not materialize for the period 2001-2004. The latter finding seems suggestive of the fact that more recent migrants are yet to attain a target level of required savings and skills in order to successfully establish a new business upon return.

From Tragedy to Renaissance: Improving Agricultural Data for Better Policies

Abstract Agricultural development is an essential engine of growth and poverty reduction, yet agricultural data suffer from poor quality and narrow sectoral focus. There are several reasons for this: (1) difficult-to-measure smallholder agriculture is prevalent in poor countries; (2) agricultural data are collected with little coordination across sectors; and (3) poor analysis undermines the demand for high-quality data. This article argues that initiatives like the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics bode well for the future. Moving from Devarajan’s statistical tragedy’ to Kiregyera’s statistical ‘renaissance’ will take a continued long-term effort by individual countries and development partners.

GENDER AND MIGRATION FROM ALBANIA

This article examines the dynamics and causes of the shift in the gender composition of migration, and more particularly, in women’s access to migration opportunities and decision-making. Our analysis focuses on Albania, a natural laboratory for studying international migration where out-migration was essentially nonexistent from the end of World War II to the end of the 1980s. Interest in the Albanian case is heightened because of the complex layers of inequality existing at the time when migration began: relatively low levels of inequality within the labor market and educational system—a product of the Communist era—while household relations remained heavily steeped in tradition and patriarchy. We use micro-level data from the Albania 2005 Living Standards Measurement Study, including migration histories for family members since migration began. Based on discrete-time hazard models, the analysis shows a dramatic increase in male migration and a gradual and uneven expansion of the female proportion of this international migration. Female migration, which is shown to be strongly associated with education, wealth, and social capital, appears responsive to economic incentives and constraints. Using information on the dependency of female migration to the household demographic structure as well as the sensitivity of female migration to household-level shocks, we show how household-level constraints and incentives affect male and female migration differently. Throughout this period, however, women’s migration behavior appears more directly aligned with household-level factors, and there is little evidence to suggest that increased female migration signals rising behavioral independence among Albanian women.

Modeling Migration Dynamics in Albania : A Hazard Function Approach

Since 1990, migration flows from Albania have been massive, relative to the size of the country and its population, but they have also fluctuated over time. In the first section of the paper various descriptive trends are presented, mainly in graphical form, and discussed. The data come from the 2005 Albanian Living Standards Measurement Survey, and cover the period 1990–2004. The resulting observed trends reflect changing push and pull factors in Albania and the two main host countries, Greece and Italy. The paper presents a hazard approach to modelling Albanian emigration and return migration. This analysis highlights the relevance of networks in Albanian migration dynamics, both to promote emigration and to delay return.

Moving Up the Ladder? The Impact of Migration Experience on Occupational Mobility in Albania

The contribution of return migrants to economic development in source countries can be significant. Overseas savings of returnees may lead to improvements in household welfare and provide liquidity for investments in the face of credit market failures. Labor market experience and skills acquired abroad may also lead migrants to find occupations higher in the skill and remuneration spectrum upon return. This study uses the 2005 Albanian Living Standards Measurement Study Survey and estimates the impact of international migration experience on the occupational mobility of return migrants vis a vis working-age Albanian residents that never migrated. Controlling for the non-random nature of international migration and return, the results show that past migration experience increases the likelihood of upward occupational mobility. Exploring the heterogeneity of impact by host country indicates that the positive effect of past migration experience on upward occupational mobility is driven by past migration experience in Italy and countries further a field, while past migration experience in Greece does not exert any significant impact on mobility outcomes. The results, which are consistent across different sample specifications and outcome variables measuring occupational mobility, hint at the link between migration and human/financial capital formation among migrants and foster optimism concerning the positive effect of return migration on economic development. This insight is particularly important since remittances from permanent migrants, which have fueled the impressive growth performance of the country in the recent era, may taper off in the medium to long term with the decline in out-migration and growing global economic woes.

Agricultural commercialization and nutrition revisited: Empirical evidence from three African countries

The transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture is key for economic growth. But what are the consequences for nutritional outcomes? The evidence to date has been scant and inconclusive. This study contributes to the debate by revisiting two prevailing wisdoms: (a) market participation by African smallholders remains low; and (b) the impact of commercialization on nutritional outcomes is generally positive. Using nationally representative data from three African countries, the analysis reveals high levels of commercialization by even the poorest and smallest landholders, with rates of market participation as high as 90%. Female farmers participate less, but tend to sell larger shares of their production, conditional on participation. Second, we find little evidence of a positive relationship between commercialization and nutritional status. As countries and international agencies prioritize the importance of nutrition-sensitive agriculture, better understanding of the transmission channels between crop choices and nutritional outcomes should remain a research priority.

International Migration from Albania: The Role of Family Networks and Previous Experience

This paper analyzes the sweeping evolution of Albanian migration since 1990, classifying the phenomenon by destination (toward Greece or other countries) and type (temporary or permanent). Using data from the 2002-3 Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) panel data set and the 2001 Housing and Population Census, we show first that the profile of migrants has evolved over time, with the phenomenon spreading to less-educated individuals and to poorer regions of the country. Second, we show that family migration networks and previous personal experience, in conjunction with other individual and household characteristics, are the primary determinants of the decision to migrate. The role of migration networks and personal previous experience varies by type and destination of international migration.

Non-traditional crops, traditional constraints : the adoption and diffusion of export crops among guatemalan smallholders

This paper uses a duration analysis based on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from six communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. The analysis explores how household characteristics and external trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was initially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditional exports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but the smallest landholders. However, over time more than two-thirds of adopters eventually dropped out of production of nontraditional exports. Based on the analysis, production of nontraditional exports appears to have delivered less prosperity to adopters than initially promised. Although smallholders may be enticed into entering into nontraditional exports markets when conditions are favorable, they may lack the capacity to overcome the difficulties that inevitably arise in complex types of cultivations and in highly variable global agricultural markets. Governmental and non-governmental organizations can attempt to mitigate these difficulties, but market forces may overwhelm their efforts, with some adopters still unable to compete in global markets.