This paper studies the consequences of certain widespread policies for the quality and sustainability of growth. These policies cause economic inefficiency, environmental destruction and increased poverty. The paper develops a political economy model to show why the existence of such policies is...

This paper explores the link between poverty and resource allocation, including the management of natural resources, by chronically indebted rural smallholders in developing countries. The paper proposes a formal intertemporal model of a credit constrained farm household that can invest in...

This paper analyzes the roles of agriculture in reducing poverty. Following the methodology proposed by López (2002), three channels by which agricultural growth reduces poverty are tested: (i) its effects on the real wage of unskilled workers (and/or its possible effect in reducing their...

This working paper empirically documents the size of (2) in the rural sector and investigates its consequences for rural development (agricultural growth, patterns of growth and rural poverty) for ten Latin American countries over 1985-2000. The paper provides econometric evidence suggesting...