Behavioral Economics – Policy Impact and Future Directions
Behavioral economics - a field based in collaborations among economists and psychologists - focuses on integrating a nuanced understanding of behavior into models of decision-making. Since the mid-20th century, this growing field has produced research in numerous domains and has influenced policymaking, research, and marketing. However, little has been done to assess these contributions and review evidence of their use in the policy arena.
Global forces of change: Implications for forest-poverty dynamics
EfD Authors:
This article examines global trends likely to influence forests and tree-based systems and considers the poverty implications of these interactions. The trends, identified through a series of expert discussions and review of the literature, include: (i) climatic impacts mediated through changes in forests, (ii) growth in commodity markets, (iii) shifts in private and public forest sector financing, (iv) technological advances and rising interconnectivity, (v) global socio-political movements, and (vi) emerging infectious diseases.
Household electricity consumption inefficiency and poverty: Evidence from Ghana
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Key Messages Improvements in household electricity consumption resulting from efficiency improvements have the potential to reduce household electricity expenditure, and consequently the level of poverty among households. However, little is known about the extent to which improvement in electricity consumption efficiency can reduce poverty. Our study finds that: |
Fish Protein Transition in a Coastal Developing Country
EfD Authors:
In low-income food-deficit coastal countries, fish forms a critical source of animal protein. Yet, capture fisheries, which provide fish protein to the local populations, are typically overcapitalized and exhibit classical signs of biological overfishing, threatening the livelihoods of communities. With the high and increasing fishing pressure, the rate of stock depletion may continue to intensify, thereby tilting households’ preferences towards consumption of other types of animal protein depending on whether (or not) they have strong preferences for those types of protein.
Sustainable Land Management Technologies and Poverty in Kenya
EfD Authors:
Despite increased investments in the promotion of the adoption of sustainable land management technologies by developing countries, rural poverty remains prevalent. Thus, there is a need to measure the impact of sustainable land management technologies on poverty in order to provide relevant information necessary for devising appropriate poverty reduction strategies. This paper used the Endogenous Switching Regression method to estimate the effect of the adoption of sustainable land management technologies on poverty in Kenya.
Effects of Climatological and Socioeconomic Factors on Chronic Povert
EfD Authors:
Poverty remains one of the key development goals for developing countries. Achieving this goals may be far-fetched given the increasing vagaries from climate change. This paper sought to estimate the effect of climate and weather variability on chronic poverty using household panel data for Kenya. Using Chamberlain random effects probit model with control function, the paper found that weather variability reduces the likelihood of a household falling into chronic poverty.
Pro-environmental behavior under bundled environmental and poverty reduction goals: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia
Developing countries often design programs that bundle poverty reduction and environment goals. One such program is the Ethiopian food-for-work program in which participants get food or cash in return
Effect of nutrition awareness on utilization of Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato among vulnerable populations in Kenya
EfD Authors:
Malnutrition continues to affect many vulnerable populations worldwide, with the majority of these residing in developing and underdeveloped countries. This problem has been exacerbated by the changing climate and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. Urgent efforts geared towards enhancing sustainable production and value chains of nutritious foods to ensure access to healthier diets are therefore critical.