The paper estimates the effects on
presidential election returns in Mexico of a government
climatic contingency transfer that is allocated through
rainfall-indexed insurance. The analysis uses the
discontinuity in payments that slightly deviate from a
pre-established threshold, based on rainfall accumulation
measured at local weather stations. It turns out that
voters reward the incumbent presidential party for

Understanding the trade-offs in
improving the precision of agricultural measures through
survey design is crucial. Yet, standard indicators used to
determine program effectiveness may be flawed and at a
differential rate for men and women. The authors use a
household survey from Mozambique to estimate the measurement
error from male and female self-reports of their adoption
and knowledge of three practices: intercropping, mulching,

The Government of Sierra Leone (GosL)
and the World Bank (WB) have agreed upon the design and
implementation of a growth poles program (GPP) in support of
the agenda for prosperity (A4P), the GoSL's third
poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSPIII). With support
from the European Union competitive industries and
innovation practice trust fund, the WB has been undertaking
a series of scoping and diagnostic analyses on the GPP since

This Handbook is intended to be a
practical guide to help companies in the crop production
industry develop and implement an environmental and social
management system, which should help to improve overall
operations. If a company has existing management systems
for quality or health and safety, this Handbook will help to
expand them to include environmental and social performance.
Sections I and II provide background on environmental and

In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture
has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on
food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The
gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the
broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some
unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector
driven by private investment. These impressive achievements
must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment

It is a virtual certainty that sea-level
rise will continue throughout the century and beyond 2100
even if greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized in the near
future. Understanding the economic impacts of salinity
intrusion thus is essential for planning adaptation in
low-lying coastal areas around the world. This paper
presents a case study in Bangladesh on how climate change
leads to the spread of soil salinity and the impact on

Climate change presents significant
threats to sustainable poverty reduction in Tajikistan. The
primary impacts on rural livelihoods are expected to stem
from reduced water quantity and quality (affecting
agriculture), and increased frequency and severity of
disasters. Options for farming households to autonomously
adapt (and thereby move from climate vulnerability to
resilience) include adoption of on-farm and off-farm

This paper takes stock of the current
state of banking systems across Sub-Saharan Africa and
discusses recent developments including innovations that
might help Africa leapfrog more traditional banking models.
Using an array of different data, the paper documents that
African banking systems are shallow but stable. African
banks are well capitalized and over-liquid, but lend less to
the private sector than banks in non-African developing

The objective of this report is to
examine the linkages between rural economic activity, food
insecurity and poverty in Haiti as a means of determining
the barriers to rural development. The analysis draws on a
newly available set of house-hold level living standards
measurement data collected in 2012 (ECVMAS). About 70.7
percent of all rural households are poor, and education
levels are low with an average of 2.8 years of education for

Rwanda is experiencing its best
growth performance since independence. With average annual
GDP growth rate of 8 percent and 5.2 percent for
agricultural GDP from 1999-2012, Rwanda s recent growth is a
historical record. The poverty headcount fell from 59
percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2011, and agriculture
continues to be one of the main drivers of growth and
poverty reduction in Rwanda, significantly lifting rural

Improving agricultural productivity and
promoting exports are top priorities for the Government of
the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Given the centrality
of rice to the rejuvenation of agriculture in Myanmar, the
rice sector is of critical importance, especially rice
exports. The government announced ambitious targets of 2
million metric tons (tons)2 of rice exports by 2014/15 and 4
million tons by 2019/20. Recent actual performance is

Bringing together history and economics,
this paper presents a historical and processual
understanding of women's economic marginalization in
Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end
of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been
economically active or productive; it is rather that they
have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their
labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses