Hope Michelson

Bio: Hope Michelson is an academic researcher from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The author has contributed to research in topics: Contract farming & Supply chain. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 45 publications receiving 1014 citations. Previous affiliations of Hope Michelson include Cornell University & Columbia University.

Small Farmers, NGOs, and a Walmart World: Welfare Effects of Supermarkets Operating in Nicaragua

Abstract: Despite more than a decade of NGO and government activities promoting developing world farmer participation in high-value agricultural markets, evidence regarding the household welfare effects of such initiatives is limited. This paper analyzes the geographic placement of supermarket supply chains in Nicaragua between 2000 and 2008 and uses a difference-in-difference specification on measures of supplier and non-supplier assets to estimate the welfare effects of small farmer participation. Though results indicate that selling to supermarkets increases household productive asset holdings, they also suggest that only farmers with advantageous endowments of geography and water are likely to participate.

Smallholder Participation in Agricultural Value Chains: Comparative Evidence from Three Continents

Abstract: Supermarkets, specialized wholesalers, and processors and agro-exporters’ agricultural value chains have begun to transform the marketing channels into which smallholder farmers sell produce in low-income economies We develop a conceptual framework through which to study contracting between smallholders and a commodity-processing firm We then conduct an empirical meta-analysis of agricultural value chains in five countries across three continents (Ghana, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nicaragua) We document patterns of participation, the welfare gains associated with participation, reasons for non-participation, the significant extent of contract non-compliance, and the considerable dynamism of these value chains, as farmers and firms enter and exit frequently

Measuring Socio-economic Status in the Millennium Villages: The Role of Asset Index Choice

Abstract: How are poverty analyses and poverty traps assessments affected by the choice among conventional methods of asset index construction? To address this question, this article uses panel data from fou...

The Economic Institutions of Capitalism

Abstract: The 2008 crash has left all the established economic doctrines - equilibrium models, real business cycles, disequilibria models - in disarray. Part of the problem is due to Smith’s "veil of ignorance": individuals unknowingly pursue society’s interest and, as a result, have no clue as to the macroeconomic effects of their actions: witness the Keynes and Leontief multipliers, the concept of value added, fiat money, Engel’s law and technical progress, to name but a few of the macrofoundations of microeconomics. A good viewpoint to take bearings anew lies in comparing the post-Great Depression institutions with those emerging from Thatcher and Reagan’s economic policies: deregulation, exogenous vs. endoge- nous money, shadow banking vs. Volcker’s Rule. Very simply, the banks, whose lending determined deposits after Roosevelt, and were a public service became private enterprises whose deposits determine lending. These underlay the great moderation preceding 2006, and the subsequent crash.

Learning About a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of social learning in the diffusion of a new agri cultural technology in Ghana. We use unique data on farmers' communication patterns to define each individual's information neighborhood. Conditional on many potentially confounding variables, we find evidence that farmers adjust their inputs to align with those of their information neighbors who were surpris ingly successful in previous periods. The relationship of these input adjustments to experience further indicates the presence of social learning. In addition, applying the same method to input choices for another crop, of known technol ogy, correctly indicates an absence of social learning effects. (JEL D83, 013, 033, Q16)

Population and Housing Census

Abstract: The questionnaires from the field were received, checked and stored by the data processing personnel. They checked: 1. The completeness of the questionnaires 2. The correct bubbling 3. The correct number of questionnaires per household, if total males + total females > 8 as the questionnaire ONLY accommodated maximum of 8 household members. 4. The reference number appears in all the 10 pages of the questionnaires.