Elisabeth Sadoulet
Biographic Data
| ID | 180885 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elisabeth Sadoulet |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elisabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Sadoulet |
| SIGNATURE | SADOULET E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Berkeley |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 66 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 777 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 65 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 15 |
Irrigation infrastructure and satellite-measured land cultivation impacts: Evidence from the Senegal river valley
Expanding irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa is widely viewed as a promising strategy for closing yield gaps and enhancing resilience to climate change. Drawing on more than 3,000 satellite images over a 30-year period, we examine the impact of irrigation infrastructure development in the Senegal River Valley. We find that cultivation rates increase substantially following irrigation project completion. Cultivation rates are remarkably stable at ar…
Seeding the seeds: Role of social structure in agricultural technology diffusion
The agricultural wage gap within rural villages
Agriculture for Development: Analytics and Action
For many poor countries and for a majority of poor people in the world, agriculture broadly defined can be one of the most effective instruments for development. Yet using agriculture for development, while widely advocated in the development profession and effectively practiced by a number of countries, remains too often well below potential. At the invitation of the editors of the Annual Review of Resource Economics, we retrace how we have used…
Labor calendars and rural poverty: A case study for Malawi
Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches
How experimental research in agriculture has gone from lab to field
Migration as a Risky Enterprise: A Diagnostic for Bangladesh
We provide a quantitative diagnostic of attempts by Bangladeshi workers at migrating to foreign countries and the risks that they face in doing so. We show that migration failures may be as high as one-third of attempts at migrating, with large financial losses for households with an aspiring migrant. Using a duration model, we find that success in migrating is associated with a current higher national migration, larger village migration network,…
Utility, Risk and Demand for Incomplete Insurance: Lab Experiments with Guatemalan Co-Operatives
We play a series of incentivised laboratory games with risk-exposed co-operativised Guatemalan coffee farmers to understand the demand for index-based rainfall insurance. We estimate an explicit utility curve for every player and hence predict expected utility demand under counterfactual scenarios. Using these estimates, we provide a precise money-metric decomposition of the extent to which the low observed demand for index insurance is driven by…
Estimating the Relative Benefits of Agricultural Growth on the Distribution of Expenditures
Technological Innovations, Downside Risk, and the Modernization of Agriculture
We use a randomized experiment in India to show that improved technology enhances agricultural productivity by crowding in modern inputs and cultivation practices. Specifically, we show that a new rice variety that reduces downside risk by providing flood tolerance has positive effects on adoption of a more labor-intensive planting method, area cultivated, fertilizer usage, and credit utilization. We find that a large share of the expected gains …
Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico
In many developing countries property rights over rural land are maintained through continuous personal use instead of by land titles. We show that removing the link between land use and land rights through the issuance of ownership certificates can result in large-scale adjustments to labor and land allocations. Using the rollout of the Mexican land certification program from 1993 to 2006, we find that households obtaining certificates were subs…
Fair Trade and Free Entry: Can a Disequilibrium Market Serve as a Development Tool
The Fair Trade (FT) coffee initiative attempts to channel charity from consumers to poor producers via increased prices. We show that the rules of the FT system permit this rent to be eliminated due to free entry and costly excess certification of output. Using data from an association of coffee cooperatives in Central America, we verify that expected producer benefits are close to 0 when we take into account the output that is certified but not …
The Yemen Social Fund for Development: An Effective Community-Based Approach amid Political Instability
The Yemen Social Fund for Development (SFD) was established in 1997 to combat national poverty and reinforce the limited existing social safety net. Since its inception, SFD has been widely viewed as effective in implementing programmes throughout the country and has steadily expanded its activities, despite Yemen's weak state and political unrest. In designing a novel approach to implementing its programmes, SFD provides a model of how to use th…
Are land reforms granting complete property rights politically risky? Electoral outcomes of Mexico's certification program
What is the impact on voting behavior of strengthening property rights over agricultural land? To answer this question, we use the 14-year nationwide rollout of Mexico's land certification program (Procede) and match affected communities (ejidos) before and after the change in property rights with voting outcomes in corresponding electoral sections across six federal election cycles. We find that, in accordance with the investor class theory, gra…
The demand for insurance against common shocks
Prompting Microfinance Borrowers to Save: A Field Experiment from Guatemala
Can microfinance borrowers use the discipline of regular loan repayments in order to accumulate savings if prompted to do so? In an experiment, we offered commercial savings products to the microfinance borrowers of Guatemala’s largest public-sector bank. We find that giving these borrowers the opportunity to develop a savings plan and be reminded of saving at the time of loan repayment caused no increase in the opening of savings accounts but le…
Local Electoral Incentives and Decentralized Program Performance
This paper analyzes how electoral incentives affected the performance of a major decentralized conditional cash transfer program intended on reducing school dropout rates among children of poor households in Brazil. We show that while this federal program successfully reduced school dropout by 8 percentage points, the program's impact was 36% larger in municipalities governed by mayors who faced reelection possibilities compared to those with lam…
Subsistence farming as a safety net for food-price shocks
Governments need the capacity to manage price instability and its social consequences; but in countries where people suffer most, they are least able to respond, because of limited fiscal and institutional resources. This article argues that policies used by middle- and high-income countries are unsuitable for poorer, agricultural countries; it recommends instead that these nations promote broader access to land and raise land productivity. The a…
The Global Food Crisis and Guatemala: What Crisis and for Whom
Peer Effects in Employment: Results from Mexico's Poor Rural Communities
Empirical evidence has shown that off-farm non-agricultural (OFNA) employment offers a major pathway from rural poverty. However, participation in OFNA employment is heterogeneous across categories of individuals and is poorly understood. We explore the role of spillovers from peers on an individual's participation in formal and informal OFNA employment using data for rural Mexico. We find that peers' participation in OFNA employment has a large …
When Does Community Conservatism Constrain Village Organizations
Formal village organizations can be classified into market‐oriented (MO) and community‐oriented (CO) organizations, with the former aimed at raising members’ incomes and the latter at delivering local public goods. This study investigates the role of community conservatism in opposing economic differentiation and, thereby, constraining the emergence, configuration, and activities of MOs in West Africa. To do this, we develop a model where we show…
Agricultural Growth and Poverty Reduction
Agricultural growth has long been recognized as an important instrument for poverty reduction. Yet, measurements of this relationship are still scarce and not always reliable. The authors present additional evidence at both the sectoral and household levels based on recent data. Results show that rural poverty reduction has been associated with growth in yields and in agricultural labor productivity, but that this relation varies sharply across r…
Agricultural Growth and Poverty Reduction: Additional Evidence
Agricultural growth has long been recognized as an important instrument for poverty reduction. Yet, measurements of this relationship are still scarce and not always reliable. The authors present additional evidence at both the sectoral and household levels based on recent data. Results show that rural poverty reduction has been associated with growth in yields and in agricultural labor productivity, but that this relation varies sharply across r…
Agriculture for Development: Toward a New Paradigm
The fundamental role that agriculture plays in development has long been recognized. In the seminal work on the subject, agriculture was seen as a source of contributions that helped induce industrial growth and a structural transformation of the economy. However, globalization, integrated value chains, rapid technological and institutional innovations, and environmental constraints have deeply changed the context for agriculture's role. We argue…
Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained
Journal Article Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained Get access Alain de Janvry, Alain de Janvry University of California, Berkeley Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Marcel Fafchamps, Marcel Fafchamps Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Elisabeth Sadoulet Elisabeth Sadoulet University of California, Berkeley Search…
Income Strategies Among Rural Households in Mexico: The Role of Off-farm Activities
Can conditional cash transfer programs serve as safety nets in keeping children at school and from working when exposed to shocks
The roles of destination, gender, and household composition in explaining remittances: An analysis for the Dominican Sierra
Are land reforms granting complete property rights politically risky? Electoral outcomes of Mexico's certification program
What is the impact on voting behavior of strengthening property rights over agricultural land? To answer this question, we use the 14-year nationwide rollout of Mexico's land certification program (Procede) and match affected communities (ejidos) before and after the change in property rights with voting outcomes in corresponding electoral sections across six federal election cycles. We find that, in accordance with the investor class theory, gra…
Cash Transfer Programs with Income Multipliers: PROCAMPO in Mexico
Do Village Organizations Make a Difference in African Rural Development? A Study for Senegal and Burkina Faso
Land and labour in Latin American agriculture from the 1950s to the 1980s
A considerable amount of statistical information on the evolution of the Latin American peasantry during the last 35 years is used to show that it has become a large refuge sector that symptomises the developmental failures of the rest of the economy. While economic growth has been rapid until the debt crisis of the early 1980s, neither access to land nor employment creation has been sufficient to reduce rural poverty. As a result, the bulk of th…
Rural poverty in Latin America
Nafta and Mexico's maize producers
Measuring the poverty reduction potential of land in rural Mexico
A study in resistance to institutional change: The lost game of Latin American land reform
Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches
Localized and incomplete mutual insurance
How Rising Competition among Microfinance Institutions Affects Incumbent Lenders
This article uses data from Uganda's largest incumbent microfinance institution to analyse the impact of entry by competing lenders on client behaviour. We observe that rising competition does not lead to an increase in client dropout rate, but induces a decline in repayment performance and savings deposited with the incumbent, suggesting rising multiple loan-taking by clients. This joint effect on dropout and repayment is consistent with some ne…
The Global Food Crisis and Guatemala: What Crisis and for Whom
Market, state, and civil organizations in Latin America beyond the debt crisis: The context for rural development
A Tale of Two Communities: Explaining Deforestation in Mexico
Estimating the Relative Benefits of Agricultural Growth on the Distribution of Expenditures
Social articulation as a condition for equitable growth
The demand for insurance against common shocks
The supply- and demand-side impacts of credit market information
The Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Knowledge and Productivity: A Study of Potato Farmers in the Peruvian Andes
Using survey data from Peru, this article evaluates the impact of a pilot farmer‐field‐school (FFS) program on farmers’ knowledge of integrated pest management (IPM) practices related to potato cultivation. We use both regression analysis controlling for participation and a propensity score matching approach to create a comparison group similar to the FFS participants in observable characteristics. Results are robust across the two approaches as …
Politically feasible and equitable adjustment: Some alternatives for ecuador
Utility, Risk and Demand for Incomplete Insurance: Lab Experiments with Guatemalan Co-Operatives
We play a series of incentivised laboratory games with risk-exposed co-operativised Guatemalan coffee farmers to understand the demand for index-based rainfall insurance. We estimate an explicit utility curve for every player and hence predict expected utility demand under counterfactual scenarios. Using these estimates, we provide a precise money-metric decomposition of the extent to which the low observed demand for index insurance is driven by…
Social articulation as a condition for equitable growth
Crescimento desigualitário em uma economia subdesenvolvida. O caso do Brasil
A política de industrialização executada em vários países em desenvolvimento (Brasil e México, por exemplo) produziu um crescimento extraordinariamente rápido dessas economias quando essa política foi bem-sucedida. No entanto, a evolução recente mostra que os principais problemas não foram realmente resolvidos. Por meio da elaboração de um modelo, este trabalho estuda em profundidade o mecanismo de desarticulação social, entendido como a incapaci…
The Conditions for Compatibility between Aid and Trade in Agriculture
Investment strategies to combat rural poverty: A proposal for Latin America
A study in resistance to institutional change: The lost game of Latin American land reform
Land and labour in Latin American agriculture from the 1950s to the 1980s
A considerable amount of statistical information on the evolution of the Latin American peasantry during the last 35 years is used to show that it has become a large refuge sector that symptomises the developmental failures of the rest of the economy. While economic growth has been rapid until the debt crisis of the early 1980s, neither access to land nor employment creation has been sufficient to reduce rural poverty. As a result, the bulk of th…
The Transmission of Production Fluctuations and Technical Change in a Village Economy: A Social Accounting Matrix Approach
Agrarian Structure, Technological Innovations, and the State
In this chapter, the authors dwell upon the influence of the structure of asset ownership and of political lobbying for the nature of the public research budget on the rate and bias of technological change in agriculture.
Politically feasible and equitable adjustment: Some alternatives for ecuador
The political feasibility of rural poverty reduction
Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained
Journal Article Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained Get access Alain de Janvry, Alain de Janvry University of California, Berkeley Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Marcel Fafchamps, Marcel Fafchamps Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Elisabeth Sadoulet Elisabeth Sadoulet University of California, Berkeley Search…
Market, state, and civil organizations in Latin America beyond the debt crisis: The context for rural development
Efficient share tenancy contracts under risk: The case of two rice-growing villages in Thailand
State, Market and Civil Organizations: New Theories, New Practices and Their Implications for Rural Development
Nafta and Mexico's maize producers
Adjustment and Equity in Developing Countries: A New Approach
Journal Article Adjustment and Equity in Developing Countries: A New Approach Get access Adjustment and Equity in Developing Countries: A New Approach.. By (Francois) Bourguignon and (Christian) Morrisson (Paris: OECD, 1992. Pp. III. FF130. paperback. ISBN 92 64 13664 9.)Adjustment and Equity in Ecuador. By (Alain) De Janvry, (Elisabeth) Sadoulet and (Andre) Fargeix. (Paris: OECD, 1991. Pp. 174. FF130. paperback. ISBN 92 64 13539 1.)Adjustment an…
The performance of village intermediaries in rural credit delivery under changing penalty regimes: Evidence from Senegal
This article concerns the use of village intermediaries to mitigate asymmetric information problems in rural credit delivery. We consider an example from Senegal and examine the intermediaries’ screening of loan applicants. The results show that, when the intermediaries expected to incur a substantial penalty in the event of borrower default, they engaged in appropriate screening, allocating credit to borrowers likely to repay their loans. When t…
The role of agriculture in economic development: Visible and invisible surplus transfers
The financial surplus of agriculture has been central to theories of the role of agriculture in economic development. Morrisson and Thorbecke (MT) have used a constant-price social accounting matrix (SAM) framework to rigorously measure the financial surplus of agriculture and decompose the mechanisms of surplus extraction. History and theory have, however, stressed the role of prices as an invisible transfer mechanism in addition to the visible …
Between political control and efficiency gains: The evolution of agrarian property rights In Mexico
As a product of the Mexican revolution, the ejido was originally organized as an institution with the multiple aims of achieving political control over the peasantry, representing peasants in their relations with the State, and assisting production by smallholders. These multiple objectives, which were initially consistent and supported a successful phase of growth and improved welfare, became increasingly contradictory, precipitating a major cri…
Land allocation under dual individual–collective use in Mexico
Mexico's Second Agrarian Reform: Household and Community Responses
Social heterogeneity and wasteful lobbying
Sustainability in the Diffusion of Innovations: Smallholder Nontraditional Agro-Exports in Guatemala
Transactions Costs and Agricultural Household Supply Response
We develop and estimate a model of supply response when transactions costs create a situation where some producers buy, others sell, and others do not participate in markets. We present two rationales for why producing households may have different relationships to the market: proportional and fixed transactions costs. Using data on Mexican corn producers, we estimate an empirical model that allows for separate tests of the significance of both t…
Rural poverty in Latin America
Economics (62 works) · Political science (38 works) · Geography (33 works) · Agriculture (32 works) · Economic growth (30 works) · Business (27 works) · Agricultural risk and resilience (21 works) · Income, Poverty, and Inequality (19 works) · Poverty (18 works) · Development economics (16 works)