Marleen Dekker | Leiden University (original) (raw)

Papers by Marleen Dekker

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials, Feb 14, 2023

There is nothing new about changes in land law and large-scale population relocation in Zimbabwe.... more There is nothing new about changes in land law and large-scale population relocation in Zimbabwe. This chapter argues that two of the innovative elements ? the focus on nuclear families and the ban on subdividing land ? initially determined the shape and composition of the resettled households. The inexorable increase in the man: land ratio over time, however, led to growing informal evasion of the rigid aspects of the innovative policies. It was as if necessity had become the mother of invention, leading to idespread counter-innovative behaviour. The chapter presents data that are based on information from a household panel study in three resettlement schemes, the Zimbabwe Rural Household Dynamics Survey (ZRHDS), and the life histories of settler families. The resettlement programme was based on voluntary resettlement and, in most cases, farmers? motivations for applying were self-interest. Keywords: resettled households; resettlement programme; Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe Rural Household Dynamics Survey (ZRHDS)

Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of... more Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of highly inclusive communities where the poor were not excluded from any of the groups set up to address communal problems. This is the conclusion of a study of nineteen of the villages that were established in the programme. While men and women tended to separate into single-sex groups, this was not due to a lack of trust between the sexes, and female-headed households were not excluded from community-based organizations (CBOs) either. Family, clan and religion all played an important role in bringing together neighbours who did not know each other prior to resettlement and these social ties provided the basis for the trust that has been essential for them to act collectively. It remains to be seen whether the current land reforms and resettlement programmes will be as successful.

World Development, Mar 1, 2010

To reduce the burden of health expenditures in developing countries, health-insurance schemes hav... more To reduce the burden of health expenditures in developing countries, health-insurance schemes have become popular and now feature prominently in poverty-reduction strategies. There is, however, limited empirical evidence on the effect of such schemes on the livelihoods of clients, especially regarding household strategies to finance medical expenditures. This paper explores the relationship between health insurance and other risk-coping strategies used to finance medical expenditures in Uganda. Insurance is associated with a lower frequency of asset sales but not with lower incidences of borrowing. The amount of money borrowed or generated through the sales of assets is lower for insured households.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2017

Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygy... more Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygynous households, the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. Compared to monogamous husbands and wives, polygynous husbands and wives are less cooperative, one with another, and co-wives are least cooperative, one with another. The husbands' and wives' behavior in a corresponding series of inter-household games indicates that these differences cannot be attributed to selection of less cooperative people into polygyny. Finally, behavior in polygynous households is more reciprocal and less apparently altruistic.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2011

Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygy... more Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygynous households, the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. Compared to monogamous husbands and wives, polygynous husbands and wives are less cooperative, one with another, and co-wives are least cooperative, one with another. The husbands' and wives' behavior in a corresponding series of inter-household games indicates that these differences cannot be attributed to selection of less cooperative people into polygyny. Finally, behavior in polygynous households is more reciprocal and less apparently altruistic.

Health Systems & Reform, 2021

We use three years of household panel data to analyze the effects of ill-health on household econ... more We use three years of household panel data to analyze the effects of ill-health on household economic outcomes in rural Ethiopia. We examine the immediate effects of various ill-health measures on health expenditure and labor supply, the subsequent coping responses, and finally the effect on income and consumption. We find evidence of substantial economic risk in terms of increased health expenditure and reduced agricultural productivity. Households are able to smooth consumption by resorting to intrahousehold labor substitution, borrowing and depleting assets. However, maintaining current consumption through borrowing and depletion of assets is unlikely to be sustainable and displays the need for health financing reforms and safety nets that reduce the financial consequences of ill-health.

Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of... more Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of highly inclusive communities where the poor were not excluded from any of the groups set up to address communal problems. This is the conclusion of a study of nineteen of the villages that were established in the programme. While men and women tended to separate into single-sex groups, this was not due to a lack of trust between the sexes, and female-headed households were not excluded from community-based organizations (CBOs) either. Family, clan and religion all played an important role in bringing together neighbours who did not know each other prior to resettlement and these social ties provided the basis for the trust that has been essential for them to act collectively. It remains to be seen whether the current land reforms and resettlement programmes will be as successful.

The European Journal of Development Research, Aug 21, 2022

While there is increasing academic analysis and policy concern regarding growing inequality and t... more While there is increasing academic analysis and policy concern regarding growing inequality and the need for more inclusive development trajectories, it is equally important to advance our understanding of the pathways to attain more inclusive development in practice. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue examining the empirical outcomes and processes of inclusive development policies in selected countries in Africa. The paper presents a policy implementation and assessment framework as a lens that connects the different case studies. The framework links general inclusive development strategies in employment, social protection and governance, to the participation and representation of the various stakeholders as well as the monetary and non-monetary transaction costs in accessing and/or implementing these programmes on the ground in different national and sub-national contexts. Based on the findings of the 9 case studies, the paper also advances policy directions and operational frameworks to attain more inclusive development in practice.

Africa is the most youthful continent in the world, with 226 million youth (aged 15-24) in 2015, ... more Africa is the most youthful continent in the world, with 226 million youth (aged 15-24) in 2015, or roughly 20 per cent of the global youth population (UN, 2015). While youth populations in other regions of the world have stabilized in size, Africa's youth population is growing rapidly. It is expected that, by 2030, the number of African youth will have increased by 42 per cent (UN, 2015). At the same time, youth in Africa face significant economic challenges, with youth accounting for 60 per cent of all unemployed in Africa (Africa Renewal, 2013). As a consequence, youth employment is a top priority for Africa.

AGORA Magazine, 1990

De Sovjet Unie wordt met ernstige milieuproblemen geconfronteerd. Enerzijds vloeien deze voort ui... more De Sovjet Unie wordt met ernstige milieuproblemen geconfronteerd. Enerzijds vloeien deze voort uit de specifieke fysische omstandigheden in het land, anderzijds door de gebruikte economische grondslag. Uit de veelheid aan literatuur die door Russen en buitenstaanders aan de huidige milieuproblematiek gewijd is, valt een goede indruk te verkrijgen van de toestand van het milieu aldaar. Tijdens het congres zal de heer Artobolevskiy, de problematiek die in dit artikel aan de orde komt nader toelichten.

This document presents the preliminary findings from the quantitative data generation and analysi... more This document presents the preliminary findings from the quantitative data generation and analysis conducted as part of the project “Financial decision-making, gender and social norms in Zambia†. Using a series of specially designed behavioural experiments, we generated an extensive set of insights into the normative environment within which spouses in Eastern Province, Zambia, make decisions about individual money holding and saving. Here are some of those insights. Spouses in Eastern Province, Zambia, are willing to compromise household-level earnings in order to maintain individual control over money. Wives, but not husbands, are more likely to compromise household-level earnings in order to maintain individual control over money, when they can keep that money and their actions hidden from their spouses. Individually-held behavioural prescriptions, i.e., the “shoulds†and “oughts†that individuals have in mind and reference as guides for their own behaviour and as bench...

Quality assessment. Quality assessment based on forms from CASP. (DOCX 73 kb)

Search strategy Pubmed. Example search strategy. (DOCX 18 kb)

Coping with Zimbabwe’s economic crisis: Small-scale farmers and livelihoods under stress

Development Policy Review, 2021

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials, Feb 14, 2023

There is nothing new about changes in land law and large-scale population relocation in Zimbabwe.... more There is nothing new about changes in land law and large-scale population relocation in Zimbabwe. This chapter argues that two of the innovative elements ? the focus on nuclear families and the ban on subdividing land ? initially determined the shape and composition of the resettled households. The inexorable increase in the man: land ratio over time, however, led to growing informal evasion of the rigid aspects of the innovative policies. It was as if necessity had become the mother of invention, leading to idespread counter-innovative behaviour. The chapter presents data that are based on information from a household panel study in three resettlement schemes, the Zimbabwe Rural Household Dynamics Survey (ZRHDS), and the life histories of settler families. The resettlement programme was based on voluntary resettlement and, in most cases, farmers? motivations for applying were self-interest. Keywords: resettled households; resettlement programme; Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe Rural Household Dynamics Survey (ZRHDS)

Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of... more Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of highly inclusive communities where the poor were not excluded from any of the groups set up to address communal problems. This is the conclusion of a study of nineteen of the villages that were established in the programme. While men and women tended to separate into single-sex groups, this was not due to a lack of trust between the sexes, and female-headed households were not excluded from community-based organizations (CBOs) either. Family, clan and religion all played an important role in bringing together neighbours who did not know each other prior to resettlement and these social ties provided the basis for the trust that has been essential for them to act collectively. It remains to be seen whether the current land reforms and resettlement programmes will be as successful.

World Development, Mar 1, 2010

To reduce the burden of health expenditures in developing countries, health-insurance schemes hav... more To reduce the burden of health expenditures in developing countries, health-insurance schemes have become popular and now feature prominently in poverty-reduction strategies. There is, however, limited empirical evidence on the effect of such schemes on the livelihoods of clients, especially regarding household strategies to finance medical expenditures. This paper explores the relationship between health insurance and other risk-coping strategies used to finance medical expenditures in Uganda. Insurance is associated with a lower frequency of asset sales but not with lower incidences of borrowing. The amount of money borrowed or generated through the sales of assets is lower for insured households.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2017

Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygy... more Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygynous households, the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. Compared to monogamous husbands and wives, polygynous husbands and wives are less cooperative, one with another, and co-wives are least cooperative, one with another. The husbands' and wives' behavior in a corresponding series of inter-household games indicates that these differences cannot be attributed to selection of less cooperative people into polygyny. Finally, behavior in polygynous households is more reciprocal and less apparently altruistic.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2011

Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygy... more Using a carefully designed series of public goods games, we compare, across monogamous and polygynous households, the willingness of husbands and wives to cooperate to maximize household gains. Compared to monogamous husbands and wives, polygynous husbands and wives are less cooperative, one with another, and co-wives are least cooperative, one with another. The husbands' and wives' behavior in a corresponding series of inter-household games indicates that these differences cannot be attributed to selection of less cooperative people into polygyny. Finally, behavior in polygynous households is more reciprocal and less apparently altruistic.

Health Systems & Reform, 2021

We use three years of household panel data to analyze the effects of ill-health on household econ... more We use three years of household panel data to analyze the effects of ill-health on household economic outcomes in rural Ethiopia. We examine the immediate effects of various ill-health measures on health expenditure and labor supply, the subsequent coping responses, and finally the effect on income and consumption. We find evidence of substantial economic risk in terms of increased health expenditure and reduced agricultural productivity. Households are able to smooth consumption by resorting to intrahousehold labor substitution, borrowing and depleting assets. However, maintaining current consumption through borrowing and depletion of assets is unlikely to be sustainable and displays the need for health financing reforms and safety nets that reduce the financial consequences of ill-health.

Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of... more Zimbabwe's land reform and resettlement programme in the early 1980s resulted in the formation of highly inclusive communities where the poor were not excluded from any of the groups set up to address communal problems. This is the conclusion of a study of nineteen of the villages that were established in the programme. While men and women tended to separate into single-sex groups, this was not due to a lack of trust between the sexes, and female-headed households were not excluded from community-based organizations (CBOs) either. Family, clan and religion all played an important role in bringing together neighbours who did not know each other prior to resettlement and these social ties provided the basis for the trust that has been essential for them to act collectively. It remains to be seen whether the current land reforms and resettlement programmes will be as successful.

The European Journal of Development Research, Aug 21, 2022

While there is increasing academic analysis and policy concern regarding growing inequality and t... more While there is increasing academic analysis and policy concern regarding growing inequality and the need for more inclusive development trajectories, it is equally important to advance our understanding of the pathways to attain more inclusive development in practice. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue examining the empirical outcomes and processes of inclusive development policies in selected countries in Africa. The paper presents a policy implementation and assessment framework as a lens that connects the different case studies. The framework links general inclusive development strategies in employment, social protection and governance, to the participation and representation of the various stakeholders as well as the monetary and non-monetary transaction costs in accessing and/or implementing these programmes on the ground in different national and sub-national contexts. Based on the findings of the 9 case studies, the paper also advances policy directions and operational frameworks to attain more inclusive development in practice.

Africa is the most youthful continent in the world, with 226 million youth (aged 15-24) in 2015, ... more Africa is the most youthful continent in the world, with 226 million youth (aged 15-24) in 2015, or roughly 20 per cent of the global youth population (UN, 2015). While youth populations in other regions of the world have stabilized in size, Africa's youth population is growing rapidly. It is expected that, by 2030, the number of African youth will have increased by 42 per cent (UN, 2015). At the same time, youth in Africa face significant economic challenges, with youth accounting for 60 per cent of all unemployed in Africa (Africa Renewal, 2013). As a consequence, youth employment is a top priority for Africa.

AGORA Magazine, 1990

De Sovjet Unie wordt met ernstige milieuproblemen geconfronteerd. Enerzijds vloeien deze voort ui... more De Sovjet Unie wordt met ernstige milieuproblemen geconfronteerd. Enerzijds vloeien deze voort uit de specifieke fysische omstandigheden in het land, anderzijds door de gebruikte economische grondslag. Uit de veelheid aan literatuur die door Russen en buitenstaanders aan de huidige milieuproblematiek gewijd is, valt een goede indruk te verkrijgen van de toestand van het milieu aldaar. Tijdens het congres zal de heer Artobolevskiy, de problematiek die in dit artikel aan de orde komt nader toelichten.

This document presents the preliminary findings from the quantitative data generation and analysi... more This document presents the preliminary findings from the quantitative data generation and analysis conducted as part of the project “Financial decision-making, gender and social norms in Zambia†. Using a series of specially designed behavioural experiments, we generated an extensive set of insights into the normative environment within which spouses in Eastern Province, Zambia, make decisions about individual money holding and saving. Here are some of those insights. Spouses in Eastern Province, Zambia, are willing to compromise household-level earnings in order to maintain individual control over money. Wives, but not husbands, are more likely to compromise household-level earnings in order to maintain individual control over money, when they can keep that money and their actions hidden from their spouses. Individually-held behavioural prescriptions, i.e., the “shoulds†and “oughts†that individuals have in mind and reference as guides for their own behaviour and as bench...

Quality assessment. Quality assessment based on forms from CASP. (DOCX 73 kb)

Search strategy Pubmed. Example search strategy. (DOCX 18 kb)

Coping with Zimbabwe’s economic crisis: Small-scale farmers and livelihoods under stress

Development Policy Review, 2021

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.