In low potential agricultural areas like the Honduran hillsides characterized by soil degradation and erosion, organic agriculture can provide a means to break the downward spiral of resource degradation and poverty. We use original survey data to analyze the factors influencing the decision to...

This study re-examines household valuation of local parks to assess the value afforded to specific amenities contained within parks and how those amenities change over time. A large body existing literature studying local parks has found single family residential homeowners are surprisingly...

A dynamic programming model is developed to identify barriers to the adoption of long-run control programs for the parasitic weed Striga. The model is applied to Sirakorola in northwestern Mali. The ability of national and village-level institutions to overcome the barriers to adoption is explored.

Internet use has grown rapidly over the last 15 years and so has its integration into the rural economy. Connecting to the Internet via high-speed technology such as DSL lines, cable, satellite, and wireless networks increases bandwidth and makes the Internet much more useful to businesses,...

Investigating the determinants of economic growth remains a long research tradition in the economic growth literature. Most studies in this literature have tried to link economic growth and different economic factors using either neoclassical growth theories or endogenous growth approaches....

Social networks play an important role in generating learning externalities that can drive the diffusion of innovative, and potentially poverty-reducing, technologies. This is particularly the case in developing countries where rural education, extension, and agricultural information services...

Efficient information exchanges between sellers and buyers are essential if prices are to act as a signal for resource allocation in an economy. In the case of seed and planting materials, information on quality traits are often difficult for consumers (farmers) to obtain prior to purchase,...

Rural communities have had less Internet service accessibility than their urban counterparts and, as a consequence, have been perceived as disadvantaged. Federal government policy makers have recognized the shortfall in service provision with its perceived disadvantage and have been trying to...