Recent studies have linked transfers from Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades (formerly PROGRESA) to improvements in child development (Fernald, Gertler, and Neufeld 2008, 2009) but this work has been criticized as failing to account for endogeneity of the transfers. We create an exogenous instrument for the amount of transfers and use it to test program and transfer effects...

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that ...

Entrepreneurship Programs in Developing Countries: A Meta Regression Analysis This paper provides a synthetic and systematic review on the effectiveness of various entrepreneurship programs in developing countries. We adopt a meta-regression analysis using 37 impact evaluation studies that were in the public domain by March 2012, and draw out several lessons on the design of the programs. We ob...

Child Labor and Household Wealth: Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U Some studies on child labor have shown that greater land wealth leads to higher child labor, thereby casting doubt on the hypothesis that child labor is caused by poverty. This paper argues that the missing ingredient is an explicit modeling of the labor market. We develop a simple model which suggests an inverted-...

This paper provides a non-technical summary of a framework for evaluating the transition impact (social returns) of any infrastructure investment that reduces transaction costs and thereby intensifies product market competition. The framework applies both to physical and institutional infrastructure. We show that infrastructure generates welfare gains by improving the ability of the market to w...

This paperexplores theconsequences of improvingpropertyrights tofacilitate the use of fixed assets as collateral, popularly attributed to the influential policy advocate Hernando de Soto. We use an equilibrium model of a credit market with moral hazardtocharacterizethetheoretical effects andalsodevelopa quantitative analysis using data from Sri Lanka. We show that the effects are likely to be n...

Using data from a randomized control trial in Sri Lanka, this paper explores whether cash and in-kind grants helped microenterprises approach the productivity level of SMEs. The paper first estimates production functions and subsequently treatment effects on TFP levels. Most significantly, more able and more risk-averse owners benefit from the larger in-kind grant. Also, the larger in-kind gran...

Over the last couple of decades, it has become a commonplace to claim that “institutions matter” for economic development. Yet, institutions are not exogenous but the result of human action. It is argued here that the values and norms held by substantial parts of society’s members are an important determinant of its institutions. It is further argued that values and norms have both a direct and...

This paper investigates an unexplored rationale for organizations to enter into joint ventures. After a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on joint ventures, it develops a model in which projects require investments over time under conditions of autocorrelated productivity shocks. Internal and external interest groups are likely to pressurize owners into paying out early revenue...

This paper explores the institution of apprenticeship in Ghana. A model is presented where apprenticeship training is highly idiosyncratic, increasing an individual's productivity in the current firm, but not in any other firm. Still, individuals are willing to fund apprenticeships as they can reap the returns to the specific training of apprenticeship if they manage to acquire the capital requ...