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Does identity affect aspirations in rural India? An examination from the lens of caste and gender
We use priming, a concept popular in social psychology, to study the effect of identity salience on aspirations for self and children as part of an impact evaluation in Odisha, India. We measure the effect of an individual’s genderand caste-identity salience on improving aspirations for themselves and for their children’s future profession and education. We find that when women are primed on gender, they exhibit higher aspirations for their daughters. Similarly, low-caste women primed on caste are more aspirational for their daughters. We do not find similar results for men. The effect of caste priming is more apparent in areas where significant ethnic heterogeneity exists and muted in ethnically homogenous areas. We find that aspirations for boys are already very high, thus priming has no effect on aspirations for sons.
Do grassroots interventions relax behavioral constraints to the adoption of nutrition-sensitive food production systems?
In many developing countries, agricultural policies and programs are often designed in a way to promote productivity growth with modern inputs and technologies, and with limited reference to the nutrition gains that can be made through production diversification. We test whether grassroots programs can relax behavioral constraints inhibiting the adoption of diversified nutrition-sensitive production systems. We use a series of lab-in-field experiments and survey instruments in Odisha, India to elicit male and female farmers’ preferences for risk, aversion to loss, empowerment and aspirations for one’s self and children. We find that respondents in villages where grassroots interventions were promoted showed significantly lower levels of risk aversion, higher levels of loss aversion and higher aspirations for themselves and their children, along with improvements in production and consumption diversity. Insights into the prevalence of behavioral constraints and interventions that relax such constraints fills an important knowledge gap in how to design programs that promote more nutrition-sensitive food production systems.
Reducing vulnerability to forced labor and trafficking of short-term, low-skilled women migrant workers in the South Asia to Middle East corridor
Millions of female migrants experience various forms of exploitative and unsafe conditions when migrating for employment and income generation, both in countries of origin and in destination countries. Vulnerabilities increased further due to the Covid-19 pandemic, causing income and job losses, entrapment in countries of destination without financial or social support and stigmatization upon return. One of the key migration routes travelled by millions of migrants is from South Asia to the Middle East. We examine this migration route for low-skilled female migrant workers highlighting the impacts of interventions along the migration pathway to determine the effectiveness of alternative mech...
Remoteness, farm production, and dietary diversity in Nepal
This paper explores the relationship between agriculture, dietary diversity, and market access in Nepal, testing the complex causal chains involved, and the nuanced connections between production diversity and dietary diversity among smallholder farmers. While diversifying farm production could enhance dietary diversity, the case of Nepal indicates a varied and context specific relationship. Market access emerges as a crucial factor, often exerting a more significant impact on smallholder farm households than production diversity. Access to markets not only influences economic viability but also contributes directly to food and nutrition security, offering a practical solution to address dietary needs. Focusing on Nepal's diverse terrain, the study analyzes the interplay of remoteness, market access, irrigation availability, and complementary inputs in shaping farmers' decisions, providing valuable insights into sustainable agricultural strategies for improved dietary outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.
The role of social identity in shaping economic choices: Evidence from women’s self-help groups in India
Group-based interventions are fast gaining traction in developing countries, often bolstering existing government service delivery systems. Such groups provide development programs with a means of extending their reach to households and individuals that might otherwise not seek public goods and services. However, the very reliance on the notion of “community” in these programs can constrain participation to those with a shared identity. In India, shared caste identity remains a central, and often controversial, element in many community-based programs. We explore the salience of caste identity with a field experiment conducted among women’s self-help groups in an eastern state of India...
Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities: Evidence from Odisha, India
It is widely recognized that local management of common pool resources can be more efficient and more effective than private markets or top-down government management, especially in remote rural communities in which the institutions necessary for the enforcement of centrally-imposed regulations may be weak or prone to elite capture. In this paper, we explore the propensity for cooperation in the management of local common resources by introducing a variant of a public goods game among remote rural communities in the state of Odisha, in eastern India. We explore various patterns of cooperation, including free riding behavior, unconditional cooperation (altruism), and conditional cooperation, ...
Gendered impacts of COVID-19: Insights from 7 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
It is widely recognized that periods of crisis affect men and women differently, mediated by their access to resources and information, as well as social and institutional structures that may systematically disadvantage women from being able to access relief, institutional support, and rehabilitation. To capture the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, we conducted phone surveys in seven countries spread across Asia and Africa. The study was designed as a longitudinal panel study with five rounds of data collection in Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, and Senegal, and three rounds of data collection in Kenya, Niger, and Uganda. Both men and women were administered the same survey, w...
Hello, can you hear me? Impact of speakerphones on phone survey responses
Ensuring privacy of respondents in phone surveys is especially challenging compared to face-to-face interviews. While the use of phone surveys has become more common in development research, there is little information on how the conduct of phone surveys affects responses. Using phone survey data from India and Nepal, we test the impact of speakerphone use on bias in responses by women and men. We find that 65% of women respondents in India, and 61% of women and 59% of men respondents in Nepal had their phone on speaker during the survey. Speakerphone use is lower when women are matched with the same enumerators in the second round. Speaker use was associated with lower reported agency by women over their own income and the income of their spouse, while it is opposite for men. Our findings have important implication for the collection, design, and analysis of phone survey data.
Development and Validation of Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI)
There is little evidence on the association between women’s migration, empowerment, and well-being, driven in part due to difficulty in measuring empowerment in the migration context. To better understand these linkages, we developed a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI) and validated it with survey of 1019 returnee female migrants in Bangladesh, who had returned after working internationally, mostly from countries in West Asia. By incorporating indicators of subjective well-being from migration literature into measures of empowerment, our paper advances research over earlier assessments of women’s experiences in the migration process beyond seemingly objective indicators, su...
Development of balanced nutrient management innovations in South Asia: Lessons from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
As part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Washington and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and the USAID/Nepal Seeds and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) organized a Regional Dialogue on September 5, 2019, in Kathmandu on “Innovations for Advancing Farmers’ Use of Balanced Nutrient Application in South Asia.” The aim of the event was to facilitate cross-country dialogues on efficient nutrient management in the region. The event saw participation from central and regional government...
