Operational poverty targeting by proxy means tests [Elektronische Ressource] : models and policy simulations for Malawi / presented by Nazaire S. I. Houssou

Nazaire

Informations

• Publié par: universitat_hohenheim
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 28
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES


Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics

University of Hohenheim

Chair of Rural Development Theory and Policy



PROF. DR. MANFRED ZELLER

Operational Poverty Targeting by Proxy Means Tests
Models and Policy Simulations for Malawi


Dissertation

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

“Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften”

(Dr. sc. agrar./ Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences)

To

The Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

presented by

NAZAIRE S. I. HOUSSOU

Born in Malanville, Benin

2010 This thesis was accepted as a doctoral dissertation in fulfillment of the requirement for the
“Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften” (Dr. sc. agrar./ Ph.D.) by the Faculty of Agricultural
Sciences at the University of Hohenheim on April 6, 2010

Date of oral examination: May 11, 2010

Examination committee
Supervisor and reviewer: Prof. Dr. Manfred Zeller
Co-reviewer: Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Piepho
Additional examiner: Prof. Dr. Harald Grethe
Vice-Dean and Head of
the Examination committee: Prof. Dr. Werner Bessei.


OPERATIONAL POVERTY TARGETING BY PROXY MEANS TESTS
MODELS AND POLICY SIMULATIONS FOR MALAWI






Acknowledgments iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This dissertation marks the end of a long academic journey that started when
I registered as a Ph.D. student at the University of Hohenheim under the supervision of Prof.
Franz Heidhues. As Prof. Heidhues retired, his successor Prof. Manfred Zeller generously
took over my supervision. I would like to express my profound gratitude to Prof. Heidhues for
his extensive support.
I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Prof. Zeller for his guidance and supervision.
I am particularly appreciative of his openness and flexibility. With his support, I attended a
number of national and international conferences during the course of this work. I would also
like to thank my second supervisor Prof. Piepho for his invaluable advices on the statistical
analyses and his review of the publications included in this thesis. I would not be able to
complete this work without the financial support of the German Exchange Academic Service
(DAAD) and I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to DAAD.
This work has benefited from the invaluable comments and suggestions of Dr. Todd
Benson at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to whom I am very
grateful. I would also like thank Dr. Xavier Giné at the World Bank for his review of one of
my publications (all errors are mine). I would like to extend my deep gratitude to Ms. Contag
and Mrs. Schumacher for extensive administrative assistance throughout the period of my
doctoral research. I also thank the surveyed households and the National Statistics Office of
Malawi for generously providing the IHS2 dataset on which this work is based.
I am grateful to my fellow PhD students, colleagues, and friends: Aberra, Alwin
Camille, Christian, Ai-van, Florence, Gabriela, Martin, Mercedes, Tim, Tina, Tuyet-van, and
Yoshiko for various supports, the participants of the Institute Seminar at the University of
thHohenheim as well as the participants of the 27 International Agricultural Economics
Conference in Beijing (China). I am also thankful to former colleagues in the poverty
Acknowledgments v
assessment team: Gabriela, Julia, and Stefan at the University of Goettingen and Anthony
Leegwater at the IRIS Center (University of Maryland) for fruitful exchanges.
I would like to thank Stephan Piotrowski for translating the summary of my thesis into
German. I am very thankful to my friend and former officemate Shepard for his help and valuable
assistances. I also want to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Hirsch, my former landlord for
his extensive generosity. I am also grateful to the Bergmann’s family and my friends: Aminou,
David, Désiré, Euloge, Frejuce, Lawal, Marius, Sylvain, Vicentia, my flatmates Johanna and
Stefan who supported me in various ways during the course of my stay in Germany.
I am very thankful to Chimène Asta for her extensive support. Lastly, I would like to
thank my family, especially my father and my mother for their love, support, and
encouragements.
Nazaire Houssou
Stuttgart-Hohenheim
June 2010


Table of Contents vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................viii
LIST OF FIGURES ix
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS................................................................................................ x
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................................xii
ZUSAMMENFASSUNGxvii
RESUME ...................................................................................................................................xxii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the Research................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Research Objectives and Scope of the Study....................................................................... 7
1.4 Organization of the Thesis.8
1.5 Data Source ........................................................................................................................ 10
1.6 Targeting in the Literature.................................................................................................. 12
1.6.1 The concept of poverty: Theoretical considerations ....................................................... 13
1.6.2 Targeting the poor: Empirical methods........................................................................... 24
1.6.3 Proxy means tests in the literature................................................................................... 28
1.6.4 Malawi’s targeted programs: Costs and targeting efficiency.......................................... 35
1.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………….38
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 39
Table of Contents vii
CHAPTER 2: OPERATIONAL MODELS FOR IMPROVING THE TARGETING EFFICIENCY OF
AGRICULTURAL AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES: A systematic comparison of different
estimation methods using out-of-sample tests.................................................................... 45
CHAPTER 3: TARGETING THE POOR AND SMALLHOLDER FARMERS: Empirical evidence
from Malawi........................................................................................................... 82
CHAPTER 4: TO TARGET OR NOT TO TARGET? The costs, benefits, and impacts of indicator-
based targeting................................................................................................................... 84
CHAPTER 5: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS................................................................................... 129
5.1 Comparative Analysis of Model Results ……..……………………………………...…129
1315.2 Summary and Conclusions............................................................................................... 129
5.3 Some Policy Implications and Outlook............................................................................ 142
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................ 145
Appendix 1. Sample size and number of potential indicators by model types and estimation
methods ............................................................................................................................ 145
Appendix 2. Descriptive statistics of variables used in the rural model (full sample)........... 146
Appendix 3. Descriptive statistics of variables used in the rural model (calibration sample)147
Appendix 4. Descriptive statisticsin the rural model (validation sample) 148
Appendix 5. Descriptive statistics of variables used in the urban model (full sample) ......... 149
Appendix 6. Descriptive statistics of variables used in the urban model (calibration sample). 150
Appendix 7. Descriptive statistics of variables used in the urban model (validation sample).. 151
Appendix 8. Household housing conditions .......................................................................... 152
Appendix 9. Targeting efficiency of development policies ................................................... 152
Appendix 10. Urban model’s results under different methods…………..…………. ……...15