Taboos, Agriculture and Poverty

Taboos, agriculture and poverty

Although cultural practices often have important consequences for household consumption and economic performance, they are seldom studied by economists. To fill this gap we study the impact of taboos on agriculture and poverty. Madagascar is a good case study for this purpose given the prevalence of taboos in everyday life and the variation in cultural practices across the country. We examine t...

Taboos, agriculture and poverty

We study the impact of work taboos (fady days) on agriculture and poverty. Using cross-sectional data from a national household survey for Madagascar, we find that 18% of agricultural households have two or more fady days per week and that an extra fady day is associated with 6 percent lower per capita consumption and 5 percent lower rice productivity. To address the possible endogeneity of fad...

Agriculture, growth and poverty reduction

The authors are grateful to the UK Food Group for their additional contributions and comments. The paper reflects work in progress towards the development of new thinking on agricultural policy in DFID. It does not necessarily reflect the views and policy of DFID.

Climate Change, Agriculture and Poverty

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expresse...

Desertification, Drought, Poverty, and Agriculture