This paper is based on an ongoing joint work with David Sahn and Xiaobo Zhang.

World grains prices dramatically increased between 2007 and 2008, but rice prices especially surged. Utilizing the much larger spike in rice prices than in wheat, this article compares the response of Indian households consuming rice as the staple grain to households consuming wheat. Households...

In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of rural households in China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households...

Supporters claim that entrepreneurship is critical to building and sustaining the regional economies of urban and rural areas across the nation. Proponents argue that economic development practices that enhance and support entrepreneurship are essential because they cultivate innovation which,...

Xi Chen acknowledges generous Doctoral Research Grant from the Institute for the Social Sciences at Cornell University and precious data set provided by the Development Strategy and Governance Division at IFPRI. Conference Travel Grant provided by the Department of Applied Economics and...

Recent evidence shows that early childhood is a critical period for investments in human capital and that micronutrient deficiency and inadequate stimulation are major causes of impaired child development in poor countries. Transfers to households linked to preschool participation may improve...

The labor supply decision under wage uncertainty is studied in the context of an agricultural household model. The recent sharp growth of post-Soviet subsidiary subsistence agriculture is consistent with the model predictions of an increase in farm labor supply in response to the fall and...

Paper removed at request of author on 10/5/10. New version will uploaded in the near future.

This paper exploits a liquidity shock from a large-scale welfare program in Brazil to investigate the importance of credit constraints and informal financial assistance in explaining entrepreneurship. Previous research focuses exclusively on how liquidity shocks change recipients’ behavior...