EconBiz Author Profile

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brain drainrural mexicohuman capitalinternal migrationdrain evidencegain drainevidence ruralmexico newnew economicseconomics brainmarket shocksmigrant sendinginternal migrantsskill internalsubsistence responseresponse markettransaction costslandwirtschaftlicher familienbetriebfamily farmagricultural priceimmiserizing growthagriculture subsistenceshocks gainrural chinaevidence presentedpresented supportsupport brain

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Years of publications: 2005 - 2023

34 records from EconBiz based on author Name

1. Bundling Genetic and Financial Technologies for More Resilient and Productive Small-Scale Agriculture

abstract

Utilizing a multi-year, spatially diversified randomized controlled trial spanning two African countries, this paper explores whether bundled genetic and financial technologies can boost the resilience and productivity of small-scale farmers who are exposed to significant risk. The analysis shows that both moderate droughts and more severe yield losses undermine the resilience of control group households, and that these shocks have long-lasting effects as they decapitalize households who invest less in years following these shocks. Severe yield shocks also increase hunger and food insecurity. The genetic technology— drought tolerant seeds—provides significant protection against moderate drought events and mitigates the long-term drop in farm productivity seen in the control group. The financial technology—satellite-based index insurance—offsets the long-term consequences of severe yield losses that are not mitigated by the drought tolerant seeds. Finally, the analysis shows that farmers who experienced shocks and saw both technologies in action subsequently increase their agricultural investment at both the extensive and intensive margins. The technologies thus not only allow farmers to return to their pre-shock positions, but also allow them to move toward higher expected incomes. Unfortunately, this apparent experiential learning cuts both ways. Farmers who did not experience the efficacy of the risk management technologies backed away from using them in the following season. Our findings thus showcase important complementarities between genetic and financial risk mitigating technologies as well as the challenge of inducing sustained uptake of technologies that only occasionally reveal their benefits

Boucher, Steve; Carter, Michael; Flatnes, Jon Einar; Lybbert, Travis J.; Malacarne, Jonathan; Paul, Laura;
2023
Availability: Link

2. A Gain with a Drain? Evidence from Rural Mexico on the New Economics of the Brain Drain

abstract

Evidence is presented in support of the “brain gain” view that the likelihood of migrating to a destination wherein the returns to human capital (schooling) are high creates incentives to acquire human capital in migrant-sending areas. In Mexico, even though internal migrants are more educated than those who stay behind, the average level of schooling in the migrant-sending villages increases with internal migration. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the dynamic investment effects reverse the static, depletion effects of migration on schooling. Households' access to high-skill internal migration networks significantly increases the likelihood that children will attend school beyond the compulsory level. Access to low-skill internal networks has the opposite effect. By contrast with internal migration, migration from rural Mexico to the U.S. does not select positively on schooling, nor does it significantly influence human capital formation, even though remittances from Mexican migrants in the U.S. far outweigh remittances from internal migrants

Boucher, Steve; Stark, Oded; Taylor, J. Edward;
2018
Availability: Link Link
Citations: 24 (based on OpenCitations)

3. The Impact of Index-Based Insurance on Informal Risk-Sharing Arrangement

abstract

Moral hazard and adverse selection impede the development of formal crop insurance markets in developing countries. Besides, the risk mitigation provided by informal risk-sharing arrangements is restricted by their inability to protect against covariate shocks. In this context, index-based insurance is seen as a promising scheme as it is immune to moral hazard and adverse selection and may offer effective protection against covariate shocks. It would thus seem that the two institutions are ideal complements. Unfortunately, this intuition ignores the potential effects on incentives and behavior generated by the interaction between both schemes. This paper explores this interaction in a model with moral hazard and shows that the formal contract may crowd out informal risk-sharing if it is offered to individuals. Second, we find that both risk-taking and welfare may be reduced by the introduction of index insurance if the premium is set too high. If the formal insurance is offered to the group instead of the individual, the impact on moral hazard is internalized and welfare increases

Boucher, Steve; Delpierre, Matthieu;
2015
Availability: Link Link
Citations: 9 (based on OpenCitations)

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34 records from EconBiz based on author Name

1. Bundling Genetic and Financial Technologies for More Resilient and Productive Small-Scale Agriculture

2. A Gain with a Drain? Evidence from Rural Mexico on the New Economics of the Brain Drain

3. The Impact of Index-Based Insurance on Informal Risk-Sharing Arrangement

4. The impact of index-based insurance on informal risk-sharing arrangement

5. The Impact of Index-Based Insurance on Informal Risk-Sharing Networks

6. Supermarket Supply Chains with Chinese Characteristics: The Case of Walmart's Direct Farms

7. Encouraging development : randomized encouragement designs in agriculture

8. Subsistence response to Market shocks

9. A gain with a drain? : Evidence from rural Mexico on the new economics of brain drain

10. Impacts of policy reforms on the supply of Mexican labor to US farms : new evidence from Mexico

Steve Boucher

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