SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Fan, Shenggen; Al-Riffai, Perrihan; El-Said, Moataz; Yu, Bingxin; Kamaly, Ahmed.

The overarching objective of this report is to use a multi-level analysis approach to assess the effects of various government spending on growth and poverty reduction and their trade-offs between these two goals and to offer future policy options to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study involves analyses and simulations at the different levels: household, sector/region as well as macro levels. Different analytical tools are used at the different levels. Analyses at the different levels are initially executed independently, but final synergy is drawn through an integrated macro-micro framework. This new approach has enabled us to gain new knowledge as well as new policy insights. The study confirmed previous studies that universal...

A Typology of Food Security in Developing Countries under High Food Prices

Palavras-chave: Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42813

Yu, Bingxin; You, Liangzhi; Fan, Shenggen.

The recent surge in food prices around the world may reverse the gains of reducing hunger and poverty in the recent years. This paper employs factor and sequential typology analysis using data for 175 countries to identify groups of countries categorized according to four measures of food security: utilization, availability, accessibility and stability. Nine indicators are used for this study: calories intake, protein intake, fat intake, food production, the ratio of total exports to food imports, soil fertility, length of growing period, coefficient of variation of length of growing period and urbanization. The analysis first identifies 5 distinct food security groups characterized by food intake then further split these groups based on similarities and...

Accelerating Growth and Structural Transformation: Ghana’s Options for Reaching Middle-Income Country Status

Palavras-chave: Food security; Factor analysis; Agricultural potential; Typology; Trade; Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; International Development; C0; F0; O1.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51043

Breisinger, Clemens; Diao, Xinshen; Thurlow, James; Yu, Bingxin; Kolavalli, Shashidhara.

Ghana is an emerging success story in Africa and in a couple of years will become the first African country to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving its national poverty rate. The government of Ghana has therefore extended its development vision and recently declared the goal of reaching middle-income-country (MIC) status by 2015. To analyze possible pathways and implications of achieving MIC status, this paper examines other countries’ experiences on their way to becoming MICs and emphasizes the important role of growth acceleration, export diversification, and economic structural change in the transformation process. The paper further analyzes Ghana’s growth options and their structural implications using a dynamic computable general...

Agricultural Growth and Investment Options for Poverty Reduction in Rwanda

Palavras-chave: Growth and development; Middle income country; Applied general equilibrium modeling; Ghana; Africa; International Development.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42347

Diao, Xinshen; Fan, Shenggen; Kanyarukiga, Sam; Yu, Bingxin.

An economywide, multimarket (EMM) model was developed for Rwanda to analyze the linkages and trade-offs between growth and poverty reduction goals at both macro- and micro-economic levels. The model includes 30 agricultural commodities or commodity groups from eight broad agricultural subsectors, along with two aggregated nonagricultural sectors. The analysis compares the economic, income, and poverty effects of a variety of growth scenarios based on existing national subsector growth targets. The analysis shows 6 percent of CAADP’s agricultural GDP growth target is achievable if growth reaches its target at the agricultural subsectoral level. But it is not enough for the country to achieve the MDG One, although the national poverty rate in 2015 will be 17...

Agricultural Growth Linkages in Ethiopia: Estimates using Fixed and Flexible Price Models

Palavras-chave: Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42427

Diao, Xinshen; Fekadu, Belay; Haggblade, Steven; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Wamisho, Kassu; Yu, Bingxin.

Accelerating growth and poverty reduction, and the ultimate achievement of structural transformation, are the critical policy challenges in present day Ethiopia. This paper examines relevant growth options in terms of their impact on overall growth and poverty reduction in the country. It deploys a fixed-price semi-input-output model and a flexible-price economy-wide multi-market model for that purpose. The paper finds that agricultural growth can induce higher overall growth and faster poverty reduction than non-agricultural growth, although the latter can also have large growth effects in some cases. Among sub-sectors within agriculture, staple crops have stronger growth linkages. Decomposition of these effects also reveals that consumption linkages are...

Agricultural Productivity and Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Palavras-chave: International Development.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42419

Yu, Bingxin; Nin Pratt, Alejandro.

We analyze the evolution of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) over the past 45 years, looking for evidence of recent changes in growth patterns using an improved nonparametric Malmquist index. Our TFP estimates show a remarkable recovery in the performance of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture between 1984 and 2006 after a long period of poor performance and decline. That recovery is the consequence of improved efficiency in production resulting from changes in the output structure and an adjustment in the use of inputs. Policy interventions, including fiscal, trade and sector specific policies, appear to have played an important role in improving agriculture’s performance. Despite the improved agricultural performance, SSA...

AGRICULTURE PRODUCTIVITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Palavras-chave: Agriculture; Efficiency; Malmquist index; Total factor productivity; Technical change; Sub-Saharan Africa; Policy; Agricultural and Food Policy; International Development; Productivity Analysis.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/105400

Yu, Bingxin; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K..

This study has estimates a Fourier flexible production frontier to examine agricultural productivity in forty-one sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries during 1961-1999. The primary empirical result is that only nine of these countries experienced productivity improvements, while average productivity across all counties declined at the rate of 0.57% per year.

An Updated Look at the Recovery of Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Palavras-chave: Productivity Analysis.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/19816

Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Yu, Bingxin.

We analyze the evolution of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) over the past 40 years, looking for evidence of recent changes in growth patterns using a nonparametric Malmquist index. Our TFP estimates show a remarkable recovery in the performance of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture during between 1984 and 2003 after a long period of poor performance and decline. That recovery is the consequence of improved efficiency in production resulting from changes in the output structure and an adjustment in the use of inputs, including an overall net reduction in fertilizer use but increased fertilizer use in most of the best-performing countries. Policy changes implemented by African countries between the mid-1980s and the second...

Development domains for Ethiopia: capturing the geographical context of smallholder development options

Palavras-chave: Agriculture; Total factor productivity; Sub-Saharan Africa; Agricultural and Food Policy; Productivity Analysis; D24; Q18.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51731

Chamberlin, Jordan; Pender, John L.; Yu, Bingxin.

The choices that smallholder farmers are able to make are strongly conditioned by the geographic conditions in which they live. The importance of this fact for rural development strategy is not lost on policy makers. For example, the government of Ethiopia frequently frames policy discussions by broadly different geographical conditions of moisture availability, recognizing moisture reliable, drought prone and pastoralist areas. These conditions are seen as important criteria for determining the nature, extent and priority of development interventions for different parts of the country. There is considerable evidence, however, that other geographical factors also have important implications for rural development options. This paper uses agroecology, access...

Tipo: Report

Palavras-chave: Smallholders; Small farmers; Geographic conditions; Rural development strategies; Development policy; Agro-ecology; Market access; Livelihoods; Population density; International Development.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/55410

Does Composition of Government Spending Matter to Economic Growth?

Yu, Bingxin; Fan, Shenggen; Saurkar, Anuja.

This paper assesses the impact of the composition of government spending on economic growth in developing countries. We use a dynamic GMM model and a panel data set for 44 developing countries between 1980 and 2004. We find that the various types of government spending have different impact on economic growth. In Africa, human capital spending contributes to economic growth whereas in Asia, capital formation, agriculture and education has strong growth promoting effect. In Latin America, none of government spending items has significant impact on economic growth. Our results are robust regardless of model specifications and instruments chosen.

Getting Implicit Shadow Prices Right for the Estimation of the Malmquist Index: The Case of Agricultural Total Factor Productivity in Developing Countries

Palavras-chave: Government expenditure; Growth; GMM; Agricultural and Food Policy; Financial Economics; International Development; H5; O1; C232.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51684

Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Yu, Bingxin.

The Malmquist index has become extensively used in international comparisons of agricultural productivity since it does not require prices for its estimation, which are normally not available. However, the DEA approach used to estimate this index still uses implicit price information. This entails potential problems because these methods are susceptible to the effect of data noise, and shadow prices can prove to be inconsistent with prior knowledge on cost shares. In this paper we analyze implicit input shadow shares used in the DEA approach to estimate agricultural productivity using the Malmquist index for 72 developing countries. We then set bounds to the implicit input shares introducing information on their likely value and compare constrained and...

Growth Options and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia: A Spatial Economywide Model Analysis for 2004-15

Palavras-chave: Malmquist; Shadow prices; Total factor productivity; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods; D2.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51797

Diao, Xinshen; Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Ghautam, Madhur; Keough, James; Chamberlin, Jordan; You, Liangzhi; Puetz, Detlev; Resnick, Danielle; Yu, Bingxin.

Also published as EDRI-ESSP Policy Working Paper No. 2: Xinshen Diao; Alejandro Nin Pratt; Madhur Ghautam; James Keough; Jordan Chamberlin; Liangszi You; Detlev Puetz; Danielle Resnick; Bingxin Yu. 2005. Growth options and poverty reduction in Ethiopia: a spatial, economywide model analysis for 2004-15.

INSTITUTIONS AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SUB-SAHARA AFRICA

Palavras-chave: Poverty alleviation; Agricultural growth; Agricultural sector; Millennium Development Goals; Spatial analysis (Statistics); Disaggregation; Household surveys; Ethiopia; Africa; Food Security and Poverty; International Development.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/58383

Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K.; Yu, Bingxin.

Agricultural productivity in 41 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries from 1960 to 1999 is examined by estimating a semi-nonparametric Fourier production frontier. Over the four decades the estimated rate of productivity change was 0.83% per year, although the average rate from 1985-99 was a strong 1.90% per year. Former UK colonies exhibited significantly higher productivity gains than others, while Liberia and countries that had been colonies of Portugal or Belgium exhibited net reductions in productivity. We measure a significant reduction in productivity during political conflicts and wars, and a significant increase in productivity among those countries with a measure of political rights and civil liberties.

Rice Production Response in Cambodia

Palavras-chave: Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Productivity Analysis.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25818

Yu, Bingxin; Fan, Shenggen.

This paper analyzes how Cambodian farmers and the government can respond to the rise of rice price. The study estimates rice production response in Cambodia using the Cambodia Socio-Economic Surveys (CSES) conducted in 2004 and 2007. The results indicate that agricultural productivity is far from its potential and can be increased substantially by using modern technology and inputs such as fertilizers and irrigation. Our findings also suggest that the Cambodian government needs to design its investment strategy to relax constraints in rural infrastructure such as transportation and electricity in order to increase its agricultural production and productivity and boost farmers’ income.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Methods for Examining Institutions and Agricultural Productivity

Palavras-chave: Production response; Government investment; Price; Rice; Cambodia; Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries; Food Security and Poverty; Production Economics; C21; O13; Q1.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51042

Yu, Bingxin; Fulginiti, Lilyan E.; Perrin, Richard K..

This study estimates nonparametric non-stochastic Malmquist indices and a stochastic Fourier production frontier to examine agricultural productivity and its interactions with socio-political institutions in 41 sub-Saharan African countries during 1961-1999. We have learned from this study that on average, agricultural productivity in SSA was negative during the 1960's and 1970's, but has been positive during the last two decades. Institutions offer a significant explanation of at least some of the differential performance across countries.