Nancy McCarthy - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Nancy McCarthy
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2002
in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger an... more in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.
FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Papers, 2019
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imp... more The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.
Across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, extensive and semiextensive livestock systems are based on the... more Across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, extensive and semiextensive livestock systems are based on the use of common-pool rangelands for the essential input of forage into livestock production. These environments are often characterized by a high degree of environmental risk. While much research has been devoted to the study of common-pool resources and their attendant management institutions , less has been done to explore the effects of production risk on the decisions of producers who share a common-pool resource. Our objectives in this chapter are twofold. First, we examine the effects of risk on production decisions under the two extreme assumptions of either perfect cooperation or no cooperation over the use of the common-pool rangelands. Second, we explicitly examine the effects risk has on the incentives for individuals to cooperate as well as to deviate from cooperative agreements. We then use the theoretical models to investigate issues such as the following: § Is there a diffe...
This paper investigates factors that impact cropland, labour and income diversification decisions... more This paper investigates factors that impact cropland, labour and income diversification decisions and subsequent impacts on welfare. We use geo-referenced household data collected in 2011 from Malawi. The results show that measures of climate risk generally increase diversification across labour, cropland and income indicating that rainfall riskiness is a "push" factor for these indices. Our results also reveal that "pull" factors such as household wealth and education status of the household generally increase diversification across labour, land and income. Results also show that vulnerability to poverty is lower in environments with greater climate variability. Availability of services and support from rural institutions tends to increase diversification and reduce vulnerability to poverty. Looking at welfare measures as a function of diversification indices, all three measures of diversification increase consumption per capita, but income diversification has t...
Households typically have to decide on allocating the resources which they control between indivi... more Households typically have to decide on allocating the resources which they control between individualized activities and activities where there is common access. In this case, the ability to cooperate in the management of common access resources determines the relative profitability of the two resource bundles and hence affects the allocation of resources held by households to one or the other. The Mexican social sector is of this type, with land under individual jurisdiction allocated to either crops or pastures: the product of land in crops is privately appropriated while land in pastures is collectively grazed. We develop a model that shows that, when cooperation fails in the management of collectively grazed pastures, more land is allocated to extensive crops than under successful cooperation and less to pastures, while the stocking rate on pastures is increased. This results in too much land in extensive crops and too many animals per hectare of pasture, a well known observation for Mexico. This prediction is confirmed by analysis of data from a sample of Mexican social sector households: (JEL classification: Q15: Land Ownership and Tenure.
I. Determinants of provision and appropriation When a resource is under common property, access i... more I. Determinants of provision and appropriation When a resource is under common property, access is restricted to members of the community, creating the potential of avoiding the tragedy of the commons that characterizes resource use under open access (Bromley). Serious difficulties remain, however, in managing the resource in a way that is socially optimum because of the rival nature of appropriation by individual members. Achieving the social optimum requires either inducing a non-cooperative behavior by individual members that mimics what cooperative behavior would dictate, or inducing cooperative behavior. A number of set ups have been identified where the first holds, for instance when the payoffs correspond to a chicken game, an assurance game, or tit-for-tat, or the Folk Theorem in repeated games (Bardhan, 1993; Nugent, 1993). There is a vast qualitative literature on the determinants of cooperation, with some success stories but also many failures (Wade, 1987; Ostrom, 1992). ...
Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar May 2018 About 3ie... more Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar May 2018 About 3ie The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) promotes evidence-informed equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. We support the generation and effective use of highquality evidence to inform decision-making and improve the lives of people living in poverty in low-and middle-income countries. We provide guidance and support to produce, synthesise and quality assure evidence of what works, for whom, how, why and at what cost. 3ie impact evaluations 3ie-supported impact evaluations assess the difference a development intervention has made to social and economic outcomes. 3ie is committed to funding rigorous evaluations that include a theory-based design and uses the most appropriate mix of methods to capture outcomes that are useful in complex developmental contexts. About this report 3ie accepted the final version of the report, Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar, as partial fulfilment of requirements under grant TW4.2.02 awarded through the Agricultural Innovation Thematic Window. Despite best efforts in working with the authors, some figures could not be improved. We have copyedited the content to the extent possible. The 3ie technical quality assurance team for this report comprises Diana Lopez-Avila, Deeksha Ahuja, Stuti Tripathi, an anonymous external impact evaluation design expert reviewer and an anonymous external sector expert reviewer, with overall technical supervision by Emmanuel Jimenez. The 3ie editorial production team for this report comprises Angel Kharya and Akarsh Gupta, with Beryl Leach providing overall editorial supervision.
The Journal of Development Studies, 2018
Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be s... more Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Following a peer review process, and with previous written consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a revised version of this work may also be reproduced in any academic journal, including those indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Therefore, the restriction to receive income from such publication shall only extend to the publication's author(s). With regard to such restriction, in case of any inconsistency between the Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license and these statements, the latter shall prevail. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.
Climate Smart Agriculture, 2017
Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to guide the management of agriculture in the era ... more Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to guide the management of agriculture in the era of climate change. The concept was first launched in 2009, and since then has been reshaped through inputs and interactions of multiple stakeholders involved in developing and implementing the concept. CSA aims to provide globally applicable principles on managing agriculture for food security under climate change that could provide a basis for policy support and recommendations by multilateral organizations, such as UN's FAO. The major features of the CSA approach were developed in response to limitations in the international climate policy arena in the understanding of agriculture's role in food security and its potential for capturing synergies between adaptation and mitigation. Recent controversies which have arisen over CSA are rooted in longstanding debates in both the climate and sustainable agricultural development policy spheres. These include the role of developing countries, and specifically their agricultural sectors, in reducing global GHG emissions, as well as the choice of technologies which may best promote sustainable forms of agriculture. Since the term ʻCSA' was widely adopted before the development of a formal conceptual frame and tools to implement the approach, there has been considerable variation in meanings applied to the term, which also contributed to controversies. As the body of work on the concept, methods, tools and applications of the CSA approach expands, it is becoming clearer what it can offer. Ultimately, CSA's utility will be judeged by its effectiveness in integrating climate change response into sustainable agricultural development strategies on the ground.
Development Policy Review, 2009
The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of... more The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi's Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised (http://dx.doi.org/10.2499/CAPRiWP82).
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2019
Access under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license from springer.com. This book contains 25 chapters on t... more Access under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license from springer.com. This book contains 25 chapters on the potentials of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as an approach to adapt to climate change globally, especially in developing countries heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. CSA is a broad concept encompassing efforts to build climate resilience and adaptive capacity to improve agricultural growth for food security. This book provides the conceptual, empirical and policy basis for CSA. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is an overview of the CSA concept and how it relates to economic principles. It is clarified how the concepts of resilience, adaptive capacity, technology adoption, innovation and institutions relate to each other and the economics of CSA. Lipper and Zilberman discuss how the concept of CSA has been reshaped by actors involved in developing and implementing it. The authors discuss controversies related to CSA, for example, its relationship with sustainable agriculture, the role of agricultural mitigation and carbon financing in developing countries. It is argued that CSA is an approach to manage climate change under heterogeneous socioeconomic and agro-ecological conditions. It is neither a prescription of technologies nor a perspective to resolve the controversies. In the next chapter, McCarthy et al. beautifully articulate the lack of coherence in the CSA approach. They propose a formal economic concept based on a dynamic optimization problem wherein a social planner seeks to maximize expected discounted welfare from agriculture, both now and in the future. The last chapter in this section, by Zilberman et al., frames agricultural innovation as an effective adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The second, and the largest, section provides empirical evidence on CSA regarding vulnerability assessment and how this can be used to build adaptive capacity at policy, system and farm levels. Chapters 5-9 provide state-ofthe-art contemporary tools such as near real-time satellite observations, advanced econometric models, crop statistical models and fine-tuned simulation-based integrative decision support methods. These methods are shown with case studies from Africa, Asia and the US. Specifically, it is argued that capacity limitations to apply sophisticated tools could be a foreseeable challenge but can be overcome through targeted human capital development. The subsequent empirical chapters (Chapters 10-23) illustrate adaptive capacity through a range of policy instruments. These include social protection, microfinance, microinsurance, input subsidies and agricultural knowledge, and
This paper assesses farmers’ incentives and conditioning factors that hinder or promote adaptatio... more This paper assesses farmers’ incentives and conditioning factors that hinder or promote adaptation strategies and evaluates its impact on crop productivity by utilizing household level data collected in 2011 from nationally representative sample households in Malawi. We distinguish between (i) exposure to climatic disruptions, (ii) bio-physical sensitivity to such disruptions, (iii) household adaptive capacity in terms of farmers’ ability to prepare and adjust to the resulting stress, and, finally, (iv) system-level adaptive capacity that serve as enabling factors for household-level adaptation. We employ a multivariate probit (MVP) and instrumental variable technique to model farming practice selection decisions and their yield impact estimates. We find that exposure to delayed onset of rainfall and greater climate variability as represented by the coefficient of variation of rainfall and temperature is positively associated with the choice of riskreducing agricultural practices su...
Policy Research Working Papers, 2017
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be s... more Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Following a peer review process, and with previous written consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a revised version of this work may also be reproduced in any academic journal, including those indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Therefore, the restriction to receive income from such publication shall only extend to the publication's author(s). With regard to such restriction, in case of any inconsistency between the Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license and these statements, the latter shall prevail. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.
The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of... more The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi's Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised (
Nature Climate Change, 2015
Rangeland Ecology & Management, 2010
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access t... more BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
Desertification and the …
As with many other livestock systems, extensive livestock systems have a triple role through thei... more As with many other livestock systems, extensive livestock systems have a triple role through their economical, social and environmental functions. First, through the production of food and primary materials, these systems can contribute to a large share of agricultural GDP ( ...
Property rights, risk, and livestock development in …
7 Fuzzy Access: Modeling Grazing Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa RACHAEL E. GOODHUE AND NANCY MCCART... more 7 Fuzzy Access: Modeling Grazing Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa RACHAEL E. GOODHUE AND NANCY MCCARTHY In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobility through transhumance is a much-valued strat-egy of pastoralists for dealing with rainfall variability (see Swallow 1994; van den ...
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2002
in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger an... more in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.
FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Papers, 2019
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imp... more The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.
Across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, extensive and semiextensive livestock systems are based on the... more Across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, extensive and semiextensive livestock systems are based on the use of common-pool rangelands for the essential input of forage into livestock production. These environments are often characterized by a high degree of environmental risk. While much research has been devoted to the study of common-pool resources and their attendant management institutions , less has been done to explore the effects of production risk on the decisions of producers who share a common-pool resource. Our objectives in this chapter are twofold. First, we examine the effects of risk on production decisions under the two extreme assumptions of either perfect cooperation or no cooperation over the use of the common-pool rangelands. Second, we explicitly examine the effects risk has on the incentives for individuals to cooperate as well as to deviate from cooperative agreements. We then use the theoretical models to investigate issues such as the following: § Is there a diffe...
This paper investigates factors that impact cropland, labour and income diversification decisions... more This paper investigates factors that impact cropland, labour and income diversification decisions and subsequent impacts on welfare. We use geo-referenced household data collected in 2011 from Malawi. The results show that measures of climate risk generally increase diversification across labour, cropland and income indicating that rainfall riskiness is a "push" factor for these indices. Our results also reveal that "pull" factors such as household wealth and education status of the household generally increase diversification across labour, land and income. Results also show that vulnerability to poverty is lower in environments with greater climate variability. Availability of services and support from rural institutions tends to increase diversification and reduce vulnerability to poverty. Looking at welfare measures as a function of diversification indices, all three measures of diversification increase consumption per capita, but income diversification has t...
Households typically have to decide on allocating the resources which they control between indivi... more Households typically have to decide on allocating the resources which they control between individualized activities and activities where there is common access. In this case, the ability to cooperate in the management of common access resources determines the relative profitability of the two resource bundles and hence affects the allocation of resources held by households to one or the other. The Mexican social sector is of this type, with land under individual jurisdiction allocated to either crops or pastures: the product of land in crops is privately appropriated while land in pastures is collectively grazed. We develop a model that shows that, when cooperation fails in the management of collectively grazed pastures, more land is allocated to extensive crops than under successful cooperation and less to pastures, while the stocking rate on pastures is increased. This results in too much land in extensive crops and too many animals per hectare of pasture, a well known observation for Mexico. This prediction is confirmed by analysis of data from a sample of Mexican social sector households: (JEL classification: Q15: Land Ownership and Tenure.
I. Determinants of provision and appropriation When a resource is under common property, access i... more I. Determinants of provision and appropriation When a resource is under common property, access is restricted to members of the community, creating the potential of avoiding the tragedy of the commons that characterizes resource use under open access (Bromley). Serious difficulties remain, however, in managing the resource in a way that is socially optimum because of the rival nature of appropriation by individual members. Achieving the social optimum requires either inducing a non-cooperative behavior by individual members that mimics what cooperative behavior would dictate, or inducing cooperative behavior. A number of set ups have been identified where the first holds, for instance when the payoffs correspond to a chicken game, an assurance game, or tit-for-tat, or the Folk Theorem in repeated games (Bardhan, 1993; Nugent, 1993). There is a vast qualitative literature on the determinants of cooperation, with some success stories but also many failures (Wade, 1987; Ostrom, 1992). ...
Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar May 2018 About 3ie... more Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar May 2018 About 3ie The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) promotes evidence-informed equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. We support the generation and effective use of highquality evidence to inform decision-making and improve the lives of people living in poverty in low-and middle-income countries. We provide guidance and support to produce, synthesise and quality assure evidence of what works, for whom, how, why and at what cost. 3ie impact evaluations 3ie-supported impact evaluations assess the difference a development intervention has made to social and economic outcomes. 3ie is committed to funding rigorous evaluations that include a theory-based design and uses the most appropriate mix of methods to capture outcomes that are useful in complex developmental contexts. About this report 3ie accepted the final version of the report, Impact evaluation of the Menabe and Melaky development programme in Madagascar, as partial fulfilment of requirements under grant TW4.2.02 awarded through the Agricultural Innovation Thematic Window. Despite best efforts in working with the authors, some figures could not be improved. We have copyedited the content to the extent possible. The 3ie technical quality assurance team for this report comprises Diana Lopez-Avila, Deeksha Ahuja, Stuti Tripathi, an anonymous external impact evaluation design expert reviewer and an anonymous external sector expert reviewer, with overall technical supervision by Emmanuel Jimenez. The 3ie editorial production team for this report comprises Angel Kharya and Akarsh Gupta, with Beryl Leach providing overall editorial supervision.
The Journal of Development Studies, 2018
Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be s... more Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Following a peer review process, and with previous written consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a revised version of this work may also be reproduced in any academic journal, including those indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Therefore, the restriction to receive income from such publication shall only extend to the publication's author(s). With regard to such restriction, in case of any inconsistency between the Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license and these statements, the latter shall prevail. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.
Climate Smart Agriculture, 2017
Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to guide the management of agriculture in the era ... more Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to guide the management of agriculture in the era of climate change. The concept was first launched in 2009, and since then has been reshaped through inputs and interactions of multiple stakeholders involved in developing and implementing the concept. CSA aims to provide globally applicable principles on managing agriculture for food security under climate change that could provide a basis for policy support and recommendations by multilateral organizations, such as UN's FAO. The major features of the CSA approach were developed in response to limitations in the international climate policy arena in the understanding of agriculture's role in food security and its potential for capturing synergies between adaptation and mitigation. Recent controversies which have arisen over CSA are rooted in longstanding debates in both the climate and sustainable agricultural development policy spheres. These include the role of developing countries, and specifically their agricultural sectors, in reducing global GHG emissions, as well as the choice of technologies which may best promote sustainable forms of agriculture. Since the term ʻCSA' was widely adopted before the development of a formal conceptual frame and tools to implement the approach, there has been considerable variation in meanings applied to the term, which also contributed to controversies. As the body of work on the concept, methods, tools and applications of the CSA approach expands, it is becoming clearer what it can offer. Ultimately, CSA's utility will be judeged by its effectiveness in integrating climate change response into sustainable agricultural development strategies on the ground.
Development Policy Review, 2009
The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of... more The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi's Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised (http://dx.doi.org/10.2499/CAPRiWP82).
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2019
Access under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license from springer.com. This book contains 25 chapters on t... more Access under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license from springer.com. This book contains 25 chapters on the potentials of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as an approach to adapt to climate change globally, especially in developing countries heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. CSA is a broad concept encompassing efforts to build climate resilience and adaptive capacity to improve agricultural growth for food security. This book provides the conceptual, empirical and policy basis for CSA. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is an overview of the CSA concept and how it relates to economic principles. It is clarified how the concepts of resilience, adaptive capacity, technology adoption, innovation and institutions relate to each other and the economics of CSA. Lipper and Zilberman discuss how the concept of CSA has been reshaped by actors involved in developing and implementing it. The authors discuss controversies related to CSA, for example, its relationship with sustainable agriculture, the role of agricultural mitigation and carbon financing in developing countries. It is argued that CSA is an approach to manage climate change under heterogeneous socioeconomic and agro-ecological conditions. It is neither a prescription of technologies nor a perspective to resolve the controversies. In the next chapter, McCarthy et al. beautifully articulate the lack of coherence in the CSA approach. They propose a formal economic concept based on a dynamic optimization problem wherein a social planner seeks to maximize expected discounted welfare from agriculture, both now and in the future. The last chapter in this section, by Zilberman et al., frames agricultural innovation as an effective adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The second, and the largest, section provides empirical evidence on CSA regarding vulnerability assessment and how this can be used to build adaptive capacity at policy, system and farm levels. Chapters 5-9 provide state-ofthe-art contemporary tools such as near real-time satellite observations, advanced econometric models, crop statistical models and fine-tuned simulation-based integrative decision support methods. These methods are shown with case studies from Africa, Asia and the US. Specifically, it is argued that capacity limitations to apply sophisticated tools could be a foreseeable challenge but can be overcome through targeted human capital development. The subsequent empirical chapters (Chapters 10-23) illustrate adaptive capacity through a range of policy instruments. These include social protection, microfinance, microinsurance, input subsidies and agricultural knowledge, and
This paper assesses farmers’ incentives and conditioning factors that hinder or promote adaptatio... more This paper assesses farmers’ incentives and conditioning factors that hinder or promote adaptation strategies and evaluates its impact on crop productivity by utilizing household level data collected in 2011 from nationally representative sample households in Malawi. We distinguish between (i) exposure to climatic disruptions, (ii) bio-physical sensitivity to such disruptions, (iii) household adaptive capacity in terms of farmers’ ability to prepare and adjust to the resulting stress, and, finally, (iv) system-level adaptive capacity that serve as enabling factors for household-level adaptation. We employ a multivariate probit (MVP) and instrumental variable technique to model farming practice selection decisions and their yield impact estimates. We find that exposure to delayed onset of rainfall and greater climate variability as represented by the coefficient of variation of rainfall and temperature is positively associated with the choice of riskreducing agricultural practices su...
Policy Research Working Papers, 2017
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be s... more Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Following a peer review process, and with previous written consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a revised version of this work may also be reproduced in any academic journal, including those indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Therefore, the restriction to receive income from such publication shall only extend to the publication's author(s). With regard to such restriction, in case of any inconsistency between the Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license and these statements, the latter shall prevail. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.
The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of... more The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi's Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised (
Nature Climate Change, 2015
Rangeland Ecology & Management, 2010
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access t... more BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
Desertification and the …
As with many other livestock systems, extensive livestock systems have a triple role through thei... more As with many other livestock systems, extensive livestock systems have a triple role through their economical, social and environmental functions. First, through the production of food and primary materials, these systems can contribute to a large share of agricultural GDP ( ...
Property rights, risk, and livestock development in …
7 Fuzzy Access: Modeling Grazing Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa RACHAEL E. GOODHUE AND NANCY MCCART... more 7 Fuzzy Access: Modeling Grazing Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa RACHAEL E. GOODHUE AND NANCY MCCARTHY In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobility through transhumance is a much-valued strat-egy of pastoralists for dealing with rainfall variability (see Swallow 1994; van den ...