G. Feder - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by G. Feder

The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 1981

... proceeded to service its external debt that year accord-ing to the renegotiated terms and/or ... more ... proceeded to service its external debt that year accord-ing to the renegotiated terms and/or built up serious external debt service ar ... creditors to provide development aid in circumstances of no great foreign exchange stringency were excluded from the sample, (eg, India in the ...

Agriculture and Rural Development in a Globalizing World, 2017

Agricultural Economics, 1988

The paper reviews the theory of the impact of loan collateral, and in particular land collateral,... more The paper reviews the theory of the impact of loan collateral, and in particular land collateral, in institutional and non-institutional rural credit markets. Evidence from three Asian developing countries is presented, showing extensive use of land collateral among institutional lenders in countries where such collateral is legal. The use of land collateral is more common than other forms of security, except in places where legal inhibitions on mortgaging agricultural land exist. Non-institutional lenders are less inclined to use land collateral. However, lenders who do not have links to borrowers in matters other than finance are more likely to use loan securities. Estimates of instutional credit supply and demand in rural Thailand confirm that the pledging of land collateral affects the supply of credit more than group guaranty. It is also shown that larger farmers are more likely to utilize land collateral. The conclusion is that land collateral is preferred by instutionallenders as it reduces creditworthiness assessment costs. Attempts to ban or limit collateral use by decree are motivated by equity considerations, but they will cause loss of efficiency. Simplification of ownership verification and other policies reducing the transaction cost of collateral pledging will mitigate the negative equity implications of collateral. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Policy Research Working Papers, 1999

Is agricultural extension in developing countries up to Liability for public service functions be... more Is agricultural extension in developing countries up to Liability for public service functions beyond the the task of providing the information, ideas, and transfer of agricultural knowledge and information. organization needed to meet food needs? What role * Fiscal sustainability. should governments play in implementing or facilitating * Inadequate interaction with knowledge generators. extension services? Feder, Willett, and Zijp show how various extension Roughly 80 percent of the wvorld's extension is approaches were developed in attempts to overcome the publicly funded and delivered by civil servants, providing challenges of extension: a range of services to the farming population,-Improving extension management. commercial producers, and disadvantaged target groups.-Decentralizing. Budgetary constraints and concerns about performance ' Focusing on single commodities. create pressure to show the payoff on investment in * Providing fee-for-service public extension services. extension and to explore alternatives to publicly * Establishing institutional pluralism. providing it. * Empowering people by using participatory Feder, Willett, and Zijp analyze the challenges facing approaches. policymakers who must decide what role governments Using appropriate media. should play in implementing or facilitating extension Each of the approaches has weaknesses and strengths, services. Focusing on developing country experience, and in their analysis the authors identify the ingredients they identify generic challenges that make it difficult to that show promise. organize extension: Rural people know when something is relevant and * The magnitude of the task. effective. The aspects of agricultural extension services * Dependence on wider policy and other agency that tend to be inherently low cost and build reciprocal, functions. mutually trusting relationships are those most likely to Problems in identifying the cause and effect needed produce commitment, accountability, political support, to enable accountability and to get political support and fiscal sustainability, and the kinds of effective interaction funding. that generate knowledge. This papera joint product of Rural Development, Development Research Group, and the Rural Development Department-is part of a larger effort in the Bank to identify institutional and policy reforms needed to promote sustainable and equitable rural development. Copies of the paper are available free from the World Bank,

The World Bank Research Observer, 2004

What considerations lead policymakers to invest in agricultural extension as a key public respons... more What considerations lead policymakers to invest in agricultural extension as a key public responsibility, and what factors and agency incentives explain differences in extension system performance? To help answer these questions, this article provides a framework outlining farmers' demand for information, the public goods character of extension services, and the organizational and political attributes affecting the performance of extension systems. This conceptual framework is used to analyze several extension modalities and their likely and actual effectiveness. The analysis highlights the efficiency gains that can come from locally decentralized delivery systems with incentive structures based on largely private provision, although in most poorer countries extension services will remain publicly funded.

The Annals of Regional Science, 1979

This paper presencs a simrrple migration model which traces the link between individual decision ... more This paper presencs a simrrple migration model which traces the link between individual decision makfing and observed aggregate migration behavior. The model clarifies and demonstrates the role of alternative opportunitic-s in aggregate migration behavior using both diagrammatical aTtd mathematical presentations. It is shown that the definition of alternative opportunities does not necessarily depend on the distance between origin and destination.

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1989

This study assesses the economic implications of land ownership security in rural Thailand. It us... more This study assesses the economic implications of land ownership security in rural Thailand. It uses data from this country to rigorously analyze several aspects of land ownership security. It provides both qualitative and quantiative information on the effects of ownership security. The study presents a conceptual model and literature review and is followed by separate discussions on the evolution of land rights in Thailand; the study methodology and the nature of the data; and the credit market. A formal model of land acquisition and ownership security underlies the empirical discussions presented in subsequent chapters on land values; capital formation and land improvements; and, input use and farm productivity. The impact of usufruct certificates is then assessed, and is followed by an analysis of the benefits and costs of land titling. The study demonstrates and concludes that land ownership security in Thailand has a substantial impact on farmers' agricultural performance.

Review of Agricultural Economics, 2004

Feder, Murgai, and Quizon evaluate the impact of the period 1991-99 in Indonesia. Their analysis,... more Feder, Murgai, and Quizon evaluate the impact of the period 1991-99 in Indonesia. Their analysis, farmer field schools, an intensive participatory training employing a modified "difference-in-differences" model, program emphasizing integrated pest management. Their indicates that the program did not have significant effects evaluation focuses on whether participation in the on the performance of graduates and their neighbors. program has improved yields and reduced pesticide use The authors discuss several plausible explanations for among graduates and their neighbors who may have this outcome and suggest recommendations for gained knowledge from graduates through informal improvements. communications. The authors use panel data covering This paper-a product of Rural Development, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze the impact of extension and education approaches. Copies of the paper are available free from the World Bank,

Uncertainty is introduced into several components of a simple pest management model. It is shown ... more Uncertainty is introduced into several components of a simple pest management model. It is shown that risk aversion leads to higher quantities of pesticides and to a decline in economic thresholds, implying higher frequency of applications. The reduction of uncertainty via better dissemination of information is thus recommended.

The World Bank Research Observer, 1994

Growing fiscal deficits and greater awareness of the huge economic cost of ofteninefficient gover... more Growing fiscal deficits and greater awareness of the huge economic cost of ofteninefficient government activities have renewed interest in transferring the delivery of important services from the public to the private sector in developing countries. This article, drawn from a longer study, offers a framework for determining the appropriate roles of the public and private sectors in delivering animal health services, such as veterinary surveillance, disease vector control, vaccination, clinical treatment of sick animals, inspection of livestock products, and veterinary research and extension. The profitability and therefore the supply of private veterinary services is governed by several factors arising from economies of scale, such as the size of the livestock enterprises in the locality, the nature of potential or actual diseases, and the types of animals raised in the production systems. Thus, in areas where private veterinary work is unprofitable or where other types of market failure occur, economic or social concerns may make some type of public intervention necessary. The transfer of animal health services from the public to the private sector must be done selectively, and government support may be needed to ensure the success of such transfers. T he livestock sector plays a crucial role in the economies of many developing nations by producing protein-rich food supplies, generating vital income and employment, and earning much-valued foreign exchange. For many farmers in the developing world, their animals are also a form of stored wealth, a cushion against starvation when food is scarce, a

Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2004

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) are an intensive training approach introduced in the last decade in ma... more Farmer Field Schools (FFS) are an intensive training approach introduced in the last decade in many developing countries to promote knowledge and uptake of ecologically sensible production approaches, and in particular, integrated pest management which minimises pesticide use. Because of the high training cost, the viability of the program depends crucially on the effectiveness of knowledge diffusion from trained farmers to other farmers. This paper uses panel data from Indonesia to assess the extent of diffusion of knowledge regarding integrated pest management from trained farmers to other farmers. The results confirm that better knowledge leads indeed to reduced pesticide use, and that trained farmers make a modest gain in knowledge. However, there is no significant diffusion of knowledge to other farmers who reside in the same villages as the trained farmers. These results imply that revision in the training procedures and curriculum need to be considered if the FFS approach is to become viable and effective.

World Development, 2008

ABSTRACT Summary In a recent article in World Development, van den Berg and Jiggins [van den Berg... more ABSTRACT Summary In a recent article in World Development, van den Berg and Jiggins [van den Berg, H. &amp; Jiggins, J. (2007). Investing in farmers: The impacts of farmer field schools in relation to integrated pest management. World Development, 35(4), 663-686] (to be referred to in the discussion below as the &quot;BJ paper&quot;) challenge the validity of results in two papers written by us, [Feder, G., Murgai, R., &amp; Quizon, J. (2004a). Sending farmers back to school: the impact of farmer field schools in Indonesia, Review of Agricultural Economics 26(1), 45-62, Feder, G., Murgai, R. &amp; Quizon, J. (2004b). The acquisition and diffusion of knowledge: the case of pest management training in farmer field schools, Indonesia. Journal of Agricultural Economics 55(2), 217-239] focusing their criticism on a number of points, and concluding that our studies &quot;appear to be less authoritative than they purport to be.&quot; In the following, we will discuss the various points raised in the BJ paper, and show that they do not amount to a significant challenge to the validity of our results.

Journal of Development Economics, 1977

Oxford Economic Papers, 1980

This paper empirically investigates the importance of various economic factors in determining deb... more This paper empirically investigates the importance of various economic factors in determining debt servicing capacity of borrowing countries. The paper builds on earlier work by Frank and Cline (1971) and Dhonte (1975) who tried to identify empirically the more important factors. Using logit analysis and significance tests, this paper suggests several factors which are important determinants of default probabilities. These findings are consistent with the descriptive literature on international borrowing. The estimates for predictive ability of the model are checked with alternative data and confirm a relatively low rate of error (around 4 percent).