Alberto Zezza
Biographic Data
| ID | 4380918 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alberto Zezza |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alberto |
| FAMILY NAME | Zezza |
| SIGNATURE | ZEZZA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1842-1682 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 329 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 26 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Beyond the records
Using phone surveys and administrative data in 36 LMICs, we find survey-based COVID-19 vaccine coverage to systematically exceed administrative figures by 47% on average. This discrepancy is strongest in Sub-Saharan Africa, raising questions about the role of data quality for our understanding of vaccination progress. We isolate the effect of sampling and measurement errors on the estimated vaccination rate in six survey experiments conducted in …
Are you s(ec)ure? assessing the sensitivity of land tenure security estimates to survey design choices
Land tenure security is critically linked to several dimensions of development, including increased access to credit, investment, productivity, food security, and intra-household bargaining power, among others. Inequities across and within households, including productivity differentials, can be traced to and explained by difference in access to land. Despite being featured in two SDG indicators, very few countries have adequate data to understan…
Viewpoint
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face survey data collection efforts came to a halt due to lockdowns, limitations on mobility and social distancing requirements. What followed was a surge in phone surveys to fulfill rapidly evolving needs for timely and policy-relevant microdata for understanding the socioeconomic impacts of and responses to the pandemic. Even as the face-to-face survey data collection efforts are resuming in…
Recall length and measurement error in agricultural surveys
This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from LSMS-ISA surveys in Malawi and Tanzania, we show that key input and output variables are systematically related to the length of the recall period, indicating the presence of nonrandom measurement error. With longer recall periods, farmers report higher quantities of harvest, labor and fertilizer inputs. Farmers list …
Food counts. Measuring food consumption and expenditures in household consumption and expenditure surveys (HCES). Introduction to the special issue
This introductory paper presents the results of an international multi-disciplinary research project on the measurement of food consumption in national household surveys. Food consumption data from household surveys are possibly the single most important source of information on poverty, food security, and nutrition outcomes at national, sub-national and household level, and contribute building blocks to global efforts to monitor progress towards…
Are African households (not) leaving agriculture? Patterns of households’ income sources in rural Sub-Saharan Africa
This paper uses comparable income aggregates from 41 national household surveys from 22 countries to explore the patterns of income generation among rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to compare household income strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa with those in other regions. The paper seeks to understand how geography drives these strategies, focusing on the role of agricultural potential and distance to urban areas. Specialization in on-f…
Milking the data
Milk is an important source of cash and nutrients for many households in developing countries. Yet, our understanding of the role of dairy production in livelihoods and nutritional outcomes is hindered by the lack of decent quality household survey data. Data on milk off-take for human consumption are difficult to collect in household surveys for a number of reasons which make accurate recall challenging for the respondent (continuous production …
Missing(ness) in Action
Farm-Level Pathways to Improved Nutritional Status
Global, national and local policies and programmes for agricultural development are recurrently justified based on their alleged role in improving food and nutrition security. However, strikingly little evidence is available to prove that a direct, household-level link between agricultural production and improved nutrition exists. The objective of this special issue is to systematically and empirically test, using data from Africa and South Asia,…
Does Livestock Ownership Affect Animal Source Foods Consumption and Child Nutritional Status? Evidence from Rural Uganda
In many developing countries consumption of animal source foods (ASF) among the poor is still at a level where increasing its share in total caloric intake may have many positive nutritional benefits. This paper explores whether ownership of different livestock species increases consumption of ASF and helps improving child nutritional status, finding some evidence that both food consumption patterns and nutritional outcomes may be affected by liv…
Towards better measurement of household food security
Fact or artifact
Rural Household Access to Assets and Markets
The Vanishing Farms? The Impact of International Migration on Albanian Family Farming
This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with both labour and non-labour input allocation in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm technical e…
Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security
Assessing the impact of migration on food and nutrition security
International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan
Rural Income Generating Activities
Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation
A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities
The Vanishing Farms ? The Impact Of International Migration On Albanian Family Farming
This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with the allocation of both labor and non-labor inputs in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm techn…
Investing Back Home
In view of its increasing importance, and the dearth of information on return migration and its impacts on source households, this study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover, considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities …
Being poor, feeling poorer
In this paper we investigate how combining objective and subjective measures of welfare can enrich traditional poverty profiles by exploring the relationship between these welfare measures, and examining what explains the differences between the two. One important finding of our analysis (using data for Albania) is that reconciling subjective and objective poverty profiles suggests the presence of sizable economies of scale. This result calls for…
A Country on the Move
Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians …
Moving away from poverty
2005). Moving away from poverty: a spatial analysis of poverty and migration in Albania. Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans: Vol. 7, New Perspectives on Albanian Migration and Development, pp. 175-193
Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security
Fact or artifact
A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities
Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation
Are African households (not) leaving agriculture? Patterns of households’ income sources in rural Sub-Saharan Africa
This paper uses comparable income aggregates from 41 national household surveys from 22 countries to explore the patterns of income generation among rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to compare household income strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa with those in other regions. The paper seeks to understand how geography drives these strategies, focusing on the role of agricultural potential and distance to urban areas. Specialization in on-f…
Assessing the impact of migration on food and nutrition security
Moving away from poverty
2005). Moving away from poverty: a spatial analysis of poverty and migration in Albania. Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans: Vol. 7, New Perspectives on Albanian Migration and Development, pp. 175-193
International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan
A Country on the Move
Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians …
Missing(ness) in Action
Meso-Economic Filters Along the Policy Chain
Recall length and measurement error in agricultural surveys
This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from LSMS-ISA surveys in Malawi and Tanzania, we show that key input and output variables are systematically related to the length of the recall period, indicating the presence of nonrandom measurement error. With longer recall periods, farmers report higher quantities of harvest, labor and fertilizer inputs. Farmers list …
Milking the data
Milk is an important source of cash and nutrients for many households in developing countries. Yet, our understanding of the role of dairy production in livelihoods and nutritional outcomes is hindered by the lack of decent quality household survey data. Data on milk off-take for human consumption are difficult to collect in household surveys for a number of reasons which make accurate recall challenging for the respondent (continuous production …
Rural Household Access to Assets and Markets
Rural Income Generating Activities
Meso-Economic Filters Along the Policy Chain
Moving away from poverty
2005). Moving away from poverty: a spatial analysis of poverty and migration in Albania. Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans: Vol. 7, New Perspectives on Albanian Migration and Development, pp. 175-193
Being poor, feeling poorer
In this paper we investigate how combining objective and subjective measures of welfare can enrich traditional poverty profiles by exploring the relationship between these welfare measures, and examining what explains the differences between the two. One important finding of our analysis (using data for Albania) is that reconciling subjective and objective poverty profiles suggests the presence of sizable economies of scale. This result calls for…
A Country on the Move
Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians …
The Vanishing Farms ? The Impact Of International Migration On Albanian Family Farming
This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with the allocation of both labor and non-labor inputs in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm techn…
Investing Back Home
In view of its increasing importance, and the dearth of information on return migration and its impacts on source households, this study uses data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian households on non-farm business ownership through instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover, considering the differences in earning potentials and opportunities …
Rural Income Generating Activities
Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation
A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities
The Vanishing Farms? The Impact of International Migration on Albanian Family Farming
This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with both labour and non-labour input allocation in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm technical e…
Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security
Assessing the impact of migration on food and nutrition security
International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan
Rural Household Access to Assets and Markets
Towards better measurement of household food security
Fact or artifact
Farm-Level Pathways to Improved Nutritional Status
Global, national and local policies and programmes for agricultural development are recurrently justified based on their alleged role in improving food and nutrition security. However, strikingly little evidence is available to prove that a direct, household-level link between agricultural production and improved nutrition exists. The objective of this special issue is to systematically and empirically test, using data from Africa and South Asia,…
Does Livestock Ownership Affect Animal Source Foods Consumption and Child Nutritional Status? Evidence from Rural Uganda
In many developing countries consumption of animal source foods (ASF) among the poor is still at a level where increasing its share in total caloric intake may have many positive nutritional benefits. This paper explores whether ownership of different livestock species increases consumption of ASF and helps improving child nutritional status, finding some evidence that both food consumption patterns and nutritional outcomes may be affected by liv…
Are African households (not) leaving agriculture? Patterns of households’ income sources in rural Sub-Saharan Africa
This paper uses comparable income aggregates from 41 national household surveys from 22 countries to explore the patterns of income generation among rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to compare household income strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa with those in other regions. The paper seeks to understand how geography drives these strategies, focusing on the role of agricultural potential and distance to urban areas. Specialization in on-f…
Milking the data
Milk is an important source of cash and nutrients for many households in developing countries. Yet, our understanding of the role of dairy production in livelihoods and nutritional outcomes is hindered by the lack of decent quality household survey data. Data on milk off-take for human consumption are difficult to collect in household surveys for a number of reasons which make accurate recall challenging for the respondent (continuous production …
Missing(ness) in Action
Food counts. Measuring food consumption and expenditures in household consumption and expenditure surveys (HCES). Introduction to the special issue
This introductory paper presents the results of an international multi-disciplinary research project on the measurement of food consumption in national household surveys. Food consumption data from household surveys are possibly the single most important source of information on poverty, food security, and nutrition outcomes at national, sub-national and household level, and contribute building blocks to global efforts to monitor progress towards…
Recall length and measurement error in agricultural surveys
This paper assesses the relationship between the length of recall and nonrandom error in agricultural survey data. Using data from LSMS-ISA surveys in Malawi and Tanzania, we show that key input and output variables are systematically related to the length of the recall period, indicating the presence of nonrandom measurement error. With longer recall periods, farmers report higher quantities of harvest, labor and fertilizer inputs. Farmers list …
Viewpoint
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face survey data collection efforts came to a halt due to lockdowns, limitations on mobility and social distancing requirements. What followed was a surge in phone surveys to fulfill rapidly evolving needs for timely and policy-relevant microdata for understanding the socioeconomic impacts of and responses to the pandemic. Even as the face-to-face survey data collection efforts are resuming in…
Beyond the records
Using phone surveys and administrative data in 36 LMICs, we find survey-based COVID-19 vaccine coverage to systematically exceed administrative figures by 47% on average. This discrepancy is strongest in Sub-Saharan Africa, raising questions about the role of data quality for our understanding of vaccination progress. We isolate the effect of sampling and measurement errors on the estimated vaccination rate in six survey experiments conducted in …
Economics (22 works) · Geography (18 works) · Agriculture (13 works) · Business (13 works) · Economic growth (13 works) · Development economics (11 works) · Agricultural Innovations and Practices (8 works) · Agricultural economics (7 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (7 works) · Food security (6 works)