This book examines the challenges faced by farmers trying to maintain crop biodiversity in developing and transitional economies. Using a collection of empirical case studies of farmers and crop scientists across a range of agricultural economies and income levels, it presents economic tools and...

A widely accepted tenet of the development literature is that, in the process of structural economic transformation that accompanies economic development, the farm sector as a share of the country’s GDP will decline as a country’s GDP grows (Chenery and Syrquin, 1975). In rural areas, this...

This article explores the role of migrant networks in Mexican rural out-migration, focusing on how network composition influences rural-to-rural, rural-to-urban, and rural-to-international migration. Using data from rural Mexico, migration is considered in a multiple-choice context that allows...

Because conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes (which make payments to poor households, conditional on their behaviour) potentially affect both household resource levels and parental preferences for quality vs. quantity of children, they may have unintended consequences for fertility. We use...

This paper analyzes the characteristics of beneficiaries who drop out of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades to determine if dropping out of the program is a result of self-targeting by the non-poor or the exclusion of the target poor population. Using Oportunidades’...

This paper uses data from small-scale potato farmers in Ecuador to examine the impact of the program Plataformas de Concertación on productivity growth. Using propensity score matching combined with a Stochastic Production Frontier model that corrects for sample selection bias, we disaggregate...

Migration is increasingly making the headlines as a result of geopolitical drivers that have caused millions to migrate in the past decade. 1 The headlines mostly concern international migration from developing to developed regions, which seem to lack organized ways of dealing with the influx...

Cash transfer and agricultural support programmes are both used to improve nutrition outcomes in developing countries. This paper examines previous reviews of the impact of these programmes and compares the evidence between the two. The paper finds that, although there are about the same number...

The purpose of this guideline is to discuss the objectives and approaches of regional (subnational) development programs in order to provide guidance on issues related to evaluating the impact of these programs. Regional development programs are designed to improve the income-generating capacity...

The purpose of this guideline is to provide suggestions on designing impact evaluations for agricultural projects, particularly projects that directly target farmers, and seek to improve agricultural production, productivity and profitability. Specific issues in evaluating agricultural projects...