Monica Fisher

Household welfare and forest dependence in Southern Malawi

This paper examines the role forests play in alleviating poverty in rural Malawi. Data from three villages in southern Malawi indicate high levels of forest dependence. Gini decomposition shows that access to forest income reduced measured income inequality at the study sites. Tobit analysis of the determinants of reliance on low-return and high-return forest activities indicates that asset-poor households are more reliant on forest activities compared with the better off; reliance on high-return activities is conditioned also by availability of adult male labor and location. Taken together, the studys findings suggest that forests prevent poverty by supplementing income, and may also help to improve the living standards of households that are able to enter into high-return forest occupations. Policy implications are discussed.

Activity Choice, Labor Allocation, and Forest Use in Malawi

This article examines the determinants of activity choice affecting forest use among low-income households in Malawi. Data from three villages are used to estimate a system of household labor share equations for maize production, forest employment, and non-forest employment. A system estimation approach is used to identify factors influencing the competing and synergistic livelihood strategies which households undertake at the forest margin. Results from constrained maximum likelihood estimation indicate heightened incentives to degrade forests when returns to forest use are high. Factors reducing forest pressure include favorable returns to non-forest employment, secondary education of the household head, and wealth. (JEL J22, Q12)

Measuring the Impacts of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program

We measure the impacts of Malawi’s 2009 Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) on fertilizer use and maize yields in central and southern Malawi. Using three rounds of panel data and instrumental variables regression strategies to control for endogenous selection into the subsidy program we find positive and statistically significant correlations between participation in the FISP and fertilizer use intensity. Fertilizer use is found to be higher among households that plant improved maize varieties than among those that plant traditional varieties. Results are broadly robust to the inclusion of previous fertilizer intensity to control for household-specific differences in fertilizer use. We combine these results with those from a maize production function to calculate program-generated changes in average maize availability, accounting for estimated subsidy-induced changes in crop area. Our findings have implications for the way input subsidy programs are designed and implemented.

Why Is U.S. Poverty Higher in Nonmetropolitan than in Metropolitan Areas

In the U.S., people are more likely to be poor if they live in a nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) than in a metropolitan (metro) area. A common explanation for this phenomenon is that nonmetro places offer relatively few economic and social opportunities. This article explores another plausible explanation, asking if the disproportionate poverty in nonmetro areas partly reflects attitudes of people with personal attributes related to poverty: they may be attracted to nonmetro places or otherwise reluctant (or unable) to leave them. To test this hypothesis, data from nine waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) are used to track economic well-being and nonmetrometro residential choice among a sample of 2,007 low-income householders. A series of multivariate regression models are estimated in which the dependent variable is a householders income to need (adjusted for spatial cost-of-housing differences), and regressors are individual attributes, a binary variable for nonmetro residence, and state fixed-effects. Regression results show that controlling for householder educational attainment reduces the negative association between nonmetro residence and income to need; but controlling for unobserved, time-invariant heterogeneity via individual fixed-effects increases the magnitude of this negative association. Study findings thus appear to indicate that enduring nonmetro poverty is explained both by a sorting of low human capital individuals into nonmetro areas and by reduced economic opportunities in nonmetro compared to metro places.

Urbanization and the Viability of Local Agricultural Economies

Urbanization presents both opportunities and challenges for farmers and farm-supporting sectors on the urban fringe. This paper examines the effects of urbanization on the viability of input suppliers and output processors and on the cost and profitability of farming. An analytical model is developed to provide insights into such effects. This model motivates a multiple-equation empirical model that we estimate using county-level panel data for California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Results provide evidence that urbanization has a significant impact on agricultural infrastructure, farm production costs, and net farm income and suggest that agriculture-related opportunities of urbanization outweigh the challenges. (JEL O18)

Filling the maize basket supports crop diversity and quality of household diet in Malawi

Food security and dietary quality are broadly supported development goals, yet few studies have addressed how agricultural subsidy policies and promotion of modern crop varieties impact smallholder farm production and household diet. Crop intensification through subsidies could have indirect impacts through gains/losses in income and purchasing power, as well as direct influences on local availability. An integrated household survey conducted multiple times in Malawi provided evidence-based insights into the complex interactions between agriculture and nutrition. The nationally representative dataset indicated that agricultural input subsidies did not preclude crop or dietary diversity. Two pathways of subsidy impact appeared to be operating: an association with diversified cropping for a direct influence on available food quality; and an association with adoption of modern maize varieties for an indirect influence through commercialization and income that supports diverse food purchases. Although crop diversity was positively associated with dietary diversity, we found that education, income, market access, and availability of improved storage technologies had higher influence on dietary diversity. Finally, we provide evidence supporting the need for complementary investments in both education and employment creation, particularly for female heads of households.

Is malaria illness among young children a cause or a consequence of low socioeconomic status? evidence from the united Republic of Tanzania

BackgroundMalaria is commonly considered a disease of the poor, but there is very little evidence of a possible two-way causality in the association between malaria and poverty. Until now, limitations to examine that dual relationship were the availability of representative data on confirmed malaria cases, the use of a good proxy for poverty, and accounting for endogeneity in regression models.MethodsA simultaneous equation model was estimated with nationally representative data for Tanzania that included malaria parasite testing with RDTs for young children (six-59 months), and accounted for environmental variables assembled with the aid of GIS. A wealth index based on assets, access to utilities/infrastructure, and housing characteristics was used as a proxy for socioeconomic status. Model estimation was done with instrumental variables regression.ResultsResults show that households with a child who tested positive for malaria at the time of the survey had a wealth index that was, on average, 1.9 units lower (p-value < 0.001), and that an increase in the wealth index did not reveal significant effects on malaria.ConclusionIf malaria is indeed a cause of poverty, as the findings of this study suggest, then malaria control activities, and particularly the current efforts to eliminate/eradicate malaria, are much more than just a public health policy, but also a poverty alleviation strategy. However, if poverty has no causal effect on malaria, then poverty alleviation policies should not be advertised as having the potential additional effect of reducing the prevalence of malaria.

Gender and Agricultural Change: Crop-Livestock Integration in Senegal

In this article we evaluate stabling, a farm technology now being adopted by house holds in southern Senegal. We use data from southern Senegal to analyze the decision to adopt stabling and the impacts of adoption on family members. Our analyses use insights from several frameworks such as bargaining models and the transaction cost approach, models that assume multiple preferences within households and conceptualize decision making as a process related to the social organization of the household. We estimate an empirical adoption model and find that including indicators of household structure and wives characteristics in addition to the variables traditionally used (e.g. household head s characteristics) adds to the models explanatory power. Our analysis of impacts finds that stabling increases demand for family labor and may result in loss of an important income source for women. However, overall it appears stabling has improved family welfare since men share some of the benefits with their families. Women also want to adopt stabling so that they will be better able to provide for their families.In this article we evaluate stabling, a farm technology now being adopted by house holds in southern Senegal. We use data from southern Senegal to analyze the decision to adopt stabling and the impacts of adoption on family members. Our analyses use insights from several frameworks such as bargaining models and the transaction cost approach, models that assume multiple preferences within households and conceptualize decision making as a process related to the social organization of the household. We estimate an empirical adoption model and find that including indicators of household structure and wives characteristics in addition to the variables traditionally used (e.g. household head s characteristics) adds to the models explanatory power. Our analysis of impacts finds that stabling increases demand for family labor and may result in loss of an important income source for women. However, overall it appears stabling has improved family welfare since men share some of the benefits with their families. Wom...

Household, community, and policy determinants of food insecurity in rural Malawi

This study examines how socio-economic characteristics of households, local conditions, and public programmes are associated with the probability that a farm household in rural Malawi is food insecure. The statistical analysis uses nationally representative data for 8350 randomly-selected households interviewed during 2004/05 for the second Malawi Integrated Household Survey. Regressions are estimated separately for households in the north, centre, and south of Malawi to account for spatial heterogeneity. Results of a multilevel logit model reveal that households are less likely to be food insecure if they have larger cultivated land per capita, receive agricultural field assistance, reside in a community with an agricultural cooperative and relatively high annual rainfall, and are headed by an individual with a high school degree. Factors that positively correlate with household food insecurity are price of maize, price of fertiliser, number of household members, and distance to markets. Implications of these findings for policy are discussed.

Technical change in Senegal's irrigated rice sector: impact assessment under uncertainty

This paper addresses the prospects for technical change in the in·igated rice sector of Senegal, and measures ex-ante the economic returns to recent research efforts. In 1994, three new rice varieties were released to farmers in the Senegal River Valley (SRV), the major irrigated rice region in Senegal. The productivity advantage of the new varieties is based primarily on early maturity, which permits double-cropping. (The seeds are also higher yielding than existing cultivars.) We use a conventional [Akino and Hayami (1975), Am. J. Agric. Econ. 57, l-10] partial-equilibrium model adapted to the Senegalese situation, to assess the social benefits of research and compare those to its costs in calculating the internal rate of return (IRR). To account for uncertainty regarding the future values of model variables we use simulation which allows us to generate a distribution of all possible outcomes of the IRR. We find that rice research is almost certain to have a very high payoff over the 1995-2004 period. The expected value of the IRR is calculated to be 121% per year, with a 97.5% probability that it lies above annual capital costs of 18%.