Franque Grimard

Tropical forests and shifting cultivation: secondary forest fallow dynamics among traditional farmers of the Peruvian Amazon

Tropical secondary forests created by swidden-fallow agriculture cover extensive areas in the humid tropics and yield significant ecological and economic benefits, yet forest fallowing behaviour among swidden cultivators remains poorly understood. This paper reports on a study of forest fallow management among Amazonian peasant farmers in a traditional, riverside community near Iquitos, Peru. Data were gathered through in-depth household interviews (n 36) on farming practices, demographic characteristics, kinship relations and family history, income-expenditures and household wealth. Field visits and interviews allowed the reconstruction of forest fallow histories (n 593 fields) for the period of 1950‐1994. These histories were combined with information on household land holding and demographic composition, over time, and incorporated into a panel data set for analysis of fallow dynamics at the plot and household level. Our analyses indicate marked variations among households in the area, number and age of fallow holdings through time. Tobit regressions suggest that households with better access to land and to both in-house (male) and communal labour hold more land in secondary forest fallow with longer fallow periods. Over time, as primary forest lands around the community became increasingly scarce, households increased their holdings of forest fallow but reduced the fallow length. Duration analyses at the plot level indicate that fallow length is influenced primarily by the type of prior crop, field size, and household access to labour as well as primary forest. Land poorer households have significantly shorter forest fallows than better-off households. Our findings point to the importance of intra-community variations in non-market mediated access to land and labour and their implications for secondary forest fallow management among traditional peoples in tropical rain forest regions.

Public infrastructure and private costs: water supply and time allocation of women in rural Pakistan.

The role of infrastructure in promoting development has been established. It is noted that improvements in infrastructure increase the efficiency of production. In this case study the authors investigated how the quality and quantity of infrastructure affect the time women in Pakistan allocate to their various activities. The focus is on the relationship between access to water--at both the household and the community levels--and the time allocation of rural women who have the primary responsibility for water collection. Findings indicate that changes in the availability of infrastructure affect time use both at the household and individual levels. At the household level it is shown that poor infrastructure induces women to reduce their market-oriented work and thus their contribution to household income. Moreover poor infrastructure also causes an increase in the total work burden of women and a decrease in leisure. However with improved public water-supply infrastructure the total time women spend in all activities would be lowered with a substitution of water collection and income-generating activities. In addition a public water-supply system may also reduce the pathogen content of water thereby improving its quality. This increase in quality will most likely to bring health and sanitary benefits.

Impact of DOTS expansion on tuberculosis related outcomes and costs in Haiti

BackgroundImplementation of the World Health Organizations DOTS strategy (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course therapy) can result in significant reduction in tuberculosis incidence. We estimated potential costs and benefits of DOTS expansion in Haiti from the government, and societal perspectives.MethodsUsing decision analysis incorporating multiple Markov processes (Markov modelling), we compared expected tuberculosis morbidity, mortality and costs in Haiti with DOTS expansion to reach all of the country, and achieve WHO benchmarks, or if the current situation did not change. Probabilities of tuberculosis related outcomes were derived from the published literature. Government health expenditures, patient and family costs were measured in direct surveys in Haiti and expressed in 2003 US

Rural Labor Markets, Household Composition, and Rainfall in Cote d'Ivoire

.ResultsStarting in 2003, DOTS expansion in Haiti is anticipated to cost

Health, aging and childhood socio-economic conditions in Mexico

4.2 million and result in 63,080 fewer tuberculosis cases, 53,120 fewer tuberculosis deaths, and net societal savings of

Household consumption smoothing through ethnic ties: evidence from Cote d'Ivoire

131 million, over 20 years. Current government spending for tuberculosis is high, relative to the per capita income, and would be only slightly lower with DOTS. Societal savings would begin within 4 years, and would be substantial in all scenarios considered, including higher HIV seroprevalence or drug resistance, unchanged incidence following DOTS expansion, or doubling of initial and ongoing costs for DOTS expansion.ConclusionA modest investment for DOTS expansion in Haiti would provide considerable humanitarian benefit by reducing tuberculosis-related morbidity, mortality and costs for patients and their families. These benefits, together with projected minimal Haitian government savings, argue strongly for donor support for DOTS expansion.

Education and smoking: Were Vietnam war draft avoiders also more likely to avoid smoking?

The complete-markets hypothesis can be tested by examining whether the quantity of labor demanded by the farm is influenced by the farms household composition. There should be no influence if labor markets clear. This assumes, however, that household composition is fixed. This paper suggests that the composition of rural Ivorian households is endogenous by extending Benjamins approach (Econometrica, 1992) and considering that the household composition is simultaneously determined with the quantity of labor. If separation does not hold, variables such as rainfall that influence the labor demand will be related to the composition of household. Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Domestic Returns from Investment in the Control of Tuberculosis in Other Countries

We investigate the long-term effect of childhood socio-economic conditions on the health of the elderly in Mexico. We utilize a panel of individuals aged 50 and above from the Mexican Health and Aging Survey and find that the conditions under which the individual lived at the age of 10 affect health in old age, even accounting for education and income. This paper contributes to the literature of the long-term effects of childhood socio-economic status by being the first, to our knowledge, to consider exclusively the case of the elderly in a developing country.