We study optimal adaptation to climate change when the harmful consequences of global warming are associated with stochastic occurrence of abrupt changes. The adaptation policy entails the accumulation of a particular sort of capital that will eliminate or reduce the catastrophic damage of an abrupt climate change when (and if) it occurs. The occurrence date is uncertain. The policy problem inv...

This paper sets up a two-sector, two-period trade model of a developing country which is abundant in a non-renewable natural resource but scarce in industrial goods. It shows that lower future travel costs, rising demand for tourism and higher preferences for the environment slow down today’s optimal depletion of the natural resource that can be used for consumption or for exporting tourism ser...

In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis in the rural development literature on the multiple income-generating activities undertaken by rural households and the importance of assets in determining the capacity to undertake these activities. Controlling for endogeneity choice and applying Lee's generalization of Amemiya's two-step estimator to a simultaneous equation model, household ...

The structural transformation of agriculture in recent decades has raised serious concerns about the future of the family farm. This study examines the economic performance of U.S. farms, to explore the potential of smaller farms to compete with larger entities, and ultimately to survive in this rapidly changing environment. We use deterministic and stochastic frontier methods and survey data t...

In this paper we conduct a series of field experiments in rural India in order to measure preferences related to risk, loss, and ambiguity. Disaggregating by data, we find that on average women are significantly more risk averse and loss averse than men, though the higher average risk aversion arises due to a greater share of women who are extremely risk averse. Through a series of two empirica...

This work aims at demonstrating how the integration of the social responsibility in corporate strategy is a factor of competitiveness in the market, achieved through the full involvement of all stakeholders. The corporate social responsibility issue, still very controversial and difficult to univocally define, has been, in the latest years, of a fundamental importance in the business management...

This paper shows, in a two-sector Malthusian model of endogenous population growth, that output per capita, population density, and industrialization depend upon the labor intensity of agricultural production. Because the diminishing returns to labor are less pronounced, high labor intensity (as in rice production) leads not only to a larger population density but also to lower output per capit...

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that ...

This paper analyzes the impact of prenatal exposure to seasonal food scarcity on childhood health in Ethiopia. I construct a novel measure of seasonal exposure based on reported months of relative food scarcity in the local community. I find that exposure has a significant negative impact on height by age five that strengthens by age eight. Effects decrease with household wealth and maternal ed...