This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field...

This paper evaluates the potential of Jatropha curcas Linnaeus (Jatropha) as an alternative source of energy for rural households. The plant is said to have potential to diversify rural incomes, reclaim unproductive lands, reduce importation of fossil fuels, and consequently accumulation of...

This paper examines the implications of the institutional designs employed by two types of NGOs for the functions performed by indigenous self-help village groups called kafos in The Gambia. NGOs were found to be only a partial substitute for the financial and insurance functions traditionally...

This paper assesses the impact of the composition of government spending on economic growth in developing countries. We use a dynamic GMM model and a panel data set for 44 developing countries between 1980 and 2004. We find that the various types of government spending have different impact on...

Since the end of the 50's, a series of producer associations have been formed for working land in common in Spain, thus forming a new enterprise starting with small farms which were cultivated individually before. Usually two legal forms are applied to them: The Cooperatives and the Syndical...

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of a food-for-work programme (FFW) on the patterns of mcome d1stnbution m the rec1p1ent community. A relative mean income analysis of the size distnbution of incomes was undertaken. When the value of the food received from FFW is excluded from the...

While economies of scope of lending and mobilizing deposits in banking are justified theoretically (Diamond, 1984) and found empirically (see Saunders, 1999), in microfinance, the existence and the magnitudes of scope economies has not been investigated. We use a semi parametric smooth...

Using panel data from a survey conducted in 2006 and 2008 of 177 market-oriented farmers in central Chile, we investigate investment under imperfect capital markets. Specifically we determine the impact of formal credit constraints on fixed investment. By controlling for endogeneity problems, we...