Prioritizing public investments requires information on relative returns that are difficult to derive from disparate evaluation studies. This paper presents a ‘hybrid’ approach that combines ex post evaluation data with an economy-wide model for experimenting ex ante with alternative investment portfolios within a consistent, structural framework. The approach is used to evaluate rural investme...

This paper estimates a stochastic production using household survey data to analyze the relationship between farmers’ health impediments and agricultural production efficiency in Ethiopia. The results show that healthy farmers produce more per unit of inputs, earn more income and supply more labor than farmers affected by sickness. The model results show that production inefficiency increases s...

Agriculture is the largest sector in most sub-Saharan economies in terms of employment, and it plays an important role in supplying food and export earnings. Rural poverty rates remain high, and labor productivity is strikingly low. This paper asks how these factors shape the role of agriculture in African development strategies. Is agricultural growth a prerequisite for growth in other sectors...

We study the impact of loan regulation in rural India on child labor with an overlapping-generations model of formal and informal lending, human capital accumulation, adverse selection, and differentiated risk types. Specifically, we build a model economy that replicates the current outcome with a loan rate cap and no lender discrimination by risk using a survey of rural lenders. Households bor...

Trends in suicide among age groups 10-14, 15-19, and 20-24 in Portugal are analyzed for the period 1963-1983. Differences are noted between the north and south and between urban and rural areas. Consideration is also given to the impact on suicide rates of changes over time in the educational system and in the economy. (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE)

E. Kelly1,2†, L. Shalloo1†, U. Geary1, A. Kinsella3 and M. Wallace2 1Teagasc, Livestock Systems Research Department, Animal and Grassland Research & Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland 2School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland 3Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department, Rural Economy and Development Programme, Te...