Skip Navigation


Journal of African Economies Advance Access originally published online on January 30, 2006
Journal of African Economies 2006 15(3):343-372; doi:10.1093/jae/ejk001
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/3/343    most recent
ejk001v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Barrett, C. B.
Right arrow Articles by Adesina, A. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Macroeconomic Shocks, Human Capital and Productive Efficiency: Evidence from West African Rice Farmers

Christopher B. Barretta, Shane M. Sherlundb and Akinwumi A. Adesinac

a Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7801, USA; tel.: +1 607 255 4489; fax: +1 607 255 9984; e-mail: cbb2{at}cornell.edu b Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Mail Stop 93, Washington, DC 20551, USA; e-mail: shane.m.sherlund{at}frb.gov c Associate Director, Food Security, Rockefeller Foundation, 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-2702, USA; tel.: +1 212 869 8500; fax: +1 212 764 3468; e-mail: aadesina{at}rockfound.org

Little empirical work has quantified the transitory effects of macroeconomic shocks on farm-level production behaviour. We develop a simple analytical model to explain how macroeconomic shocks might temporarily divert managerial attention, thereby affecting farm-level productivity, but perhaps to different degrees and for different durations across production units. We then successfully test hypotheses from that model using panel data bracketing massive currency devaluation in the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire. We find a transitory increase in mean plot-level technical inefficiency among Ivorien rice producers and considerable variation in the magnitude and persistence of this effect, attributable largely to ex ante complexity of operations, and the educational attainment and off-farm employment status of the plot manager.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.