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Agricultural technology and poverty reduction: a micro-level analysis of causal effects

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Author Info
Mariapia MENDOLA ()

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Abstract

Agricultural technology opens great opportunities of increasing food grain production in land scarce countries. But questions are raised about the potential adverse or favourable impact of new technology on economic conditions of the poor. This study is aimed at contributing to the debate about the relative importance of "direct effects" of agricultural technology adoption in poverty alleviation strategies. It does so through an empirical investigation of the relationship between technological change, of the Green Revolution type, and wellbeing of smallholder farm households in two rural Bangladeshi regions. The paper tackles a methodological issue in assessing the "causal effect" of technological change on farm-household wellbeing through the non-parametric p-score matching analysis. It pursues a targeted evaluation of whether adopting a modern seed technology causes resource-poor farmers to improve their income and decrease the propensity to fall below the poverty line. It finds a robust and positive effect of agricultural technology adoption on farm household wellbeing suggesting that there is a large scope for enhancing the role of agricultural technology in "directly" contributing to poverty alleviation.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics University of Milan Italy in its series Departemental Working Papers with number 2005-14.

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Date of creation: 01 Jan 2005
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Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2005-14

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Related research
Keywords: Farm household behaviour; Technology adoption; Poverty alleviation; Propensity score matching;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Jonathan Morduch, 1998. "Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh," Working Papers 198, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies.. [Downloadable!]
  2. Carletto, Calogero & de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1999. "Sustainability in the Diffusion of Innovations: Smallholder Nontraditional Agro-Exports in Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(2), pages 345-69, January.
  3. James Heckman & Salvador Navarro-Lozano, 2004. "Using Matching, Instrumental Variables, and Control Functions to Estimate Economic Choice Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 30-57, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Fan, Shenggen & Hazell, P. B. R. & Thorat, Sukhadeo, 1998. "Government spending, growth and poverty: an analysis of interlinkages in rural India," EPTD discussion papers 33, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  5. Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 2003. "Does Matching Overcome Lalonde's Critique of Nonexperimental Estimators?," University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project Working Papers 20035, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity score matching methods for non-experimental causal studies," Discussion Papers 0102-14, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Ravaillon, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1994. "How important to India's poor is the urban - rural composition of growth?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1399, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Heckman, James J & Ichimura, Hidehiko & Todd, Petra, 1998. "Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 65(2), pages 261-94, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Hossain, Mahabub, 1988. "Nature and impact of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh:," Research reports 67, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  10. Richard R. Nelson & Edmond S. Phelps, 1965. "Investment in Humans, Technological Diffusion and Economic Growth," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 189, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  11. Hazell, Peter B. & Haggblade, Steven, 1990. "Rural - urban growth linkages in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 430, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Otsuka, Keijiro, 2000. "Role of agricultural research in poverty reduction: lessons from the Asian experience," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 447-462, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Ravallion, Martin, 2002. "Externalities in rural development - evidence for China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2879, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Delgado, Christopher L. & Hopkins, Jane & Kelly , Valerie & Hazell, P. B. R. & McKenna, Anna A. & Gruhn, Peter & Hojjati, Behjat & Sil, Jayashree & Courbois, Claude, 1998. "Agricultural growth linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa:," Research reports 107, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  15. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November. [Downloadable!]
  16. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 2002. "Why has economic growth been more pro-poor in some states of India than others?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 381-400, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1998. "Why Have Some Indian States Done Better Than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 17-38, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-98, January.
  19. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-66, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Migration and technological change in rural households: complements or substitutes?," Departemental Working Papers 2005-15, Department of Economics University of Milan Italy. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Mariapia Mendola, 2004. "Migration and Technological Change in Rural Households: Complements or Substitutes?," Development Working Papers 195, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano. [Downloadable!]
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