The Social Safety Nets Team of the Social Protection & Labor Hub, Human Development Network is pleased to sponsor a presentation by

Corey Lang, PhD Candidate,
Department of Economics, Cornell University

Co-authors: Christopher B. Barrett and Felix Naschold

Paper Abstract

Proper targeting of policy interventions requires reasonable estimates of the benefits of the various alternative interventions. In order to inform such decisions, we develop an integrated approach that estimates the marginal returns to a range of assets across geographically defined subpopulations allowing returns to vary by household and by geography. We then create a series of maps illustrating the estimated marginal returns to specific assets and the proportion of an area’s population that would benefit from increased holdings of a specific asset. These maps can then be overlaid with traditional poverty maps to identify areas that are strong candidates for a particular development intervention. We develop a general method and demonstrate its potential with an application using Ugandan data.

Presentation (1.34mb pdf)

About the co-author

Chris Barrett, is a Professor of Applied Economics/Agriculture at Cornell University. He is also editor (or editorial board member) of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the Egerton (Kenya) Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, the Journal of African Economies, the Journal of Development Studies and World Development.