Papers by William A Masters
Environmental conditions in early life are known to have impacts on later health outcomes, but ca... more Environmental conditions in early life are known to have impacts on later health outcomes, but causal mechanisms and potential remedies have been difficult to discern. This paper uses the Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys of 2006 and 2011, combined with earlier NASA satellite observations of variation in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at each child's location and time of birth to identify the trimesters of gestation and periods of infancy when climate variation is linked to attained height later in life. We find significant differences by sex: males are most affected by conditions in their second trimester of gestation, and females in the first three months after birth. Each 100-point difference in NDVI at those times is associated with a difference in height-forage z-score (HAZ) measured at age 12– 59 months of 0.088 for boys and 0.054 for girls, an effect size similar to that of moving within the distribution of household wealth by close to one quintile for boys and one decile for girls. The entire seasonal change in NDVI from peak to trough is approximately 200–300 points during the 2000–2011 study period, implying a seasonal effect on HAZ similar to one to three quintiles of household wealth. This effect is observed only in households without toilets; in households with toilets, there is no seasonal fluctuation, implying protection against climatic conditions that facilitate disease transmission. We also use data from the Nepal Living Standards Surveys on district-level agricultural production and marketing, and find a climate effect on child growth only in districts where households' food consumption derives primarily from their own production. Robustness tests find no evidence of selection effects, and placebo regression results reveal no significant artefactual correlations. The timing and sex-specificity of climatic effects are consistent with previous studies, while the protective effects of household sanitation and food markets are novel indications of mechanisms by which households can gain resilience against adverse climatic conditions.
Nutritional Composition of Complementary Infant Foods: Evidence from 109 Commercially Marketed Products in 22 Low-Income Countries
The Faseb Journal, Apr 1, 2015
Government and agriculture in Zimbabwe
... Incomes are particularly low for the majority of smallholder farmers. ... Part II looks withi... more ... Incomes are particularly low for the majority of smallholder farmers. ... Part II looks within the agricultural sector, at how policies towards land, credit and other inputs affect different types of farmers. ... Purchase Access to CABI Databases. ...
Does Market Access Protect Children against Poor Health Conditions at Birth?
The Faseb Journal, Apr 1, 2015
Front Matter and "The Scope and Sequence of Maize Market Reform in Zimbabwe
Food Research Institute Studies, 1993
This paper presents cross-country evidence confirming that countries with more ethnolinguistic di... more This paper presents cross-country evidence confirming that countries with more ethnolinguistic diversity have lower levels of economic growth. But, controlling for other factors, in a sample of 113 countries over the 1960-1990 period we find that the economic cost of diversity is small relative to the benefit of larger country size, and is smaller at higher levels of national income. We conclude that investments in national unity have been associated with faster growth, particularly (but not exclusively) when accompanied by other conditions favoring growth.
Proposal for funding under the USAID co-operative agreement on Equity And Growth through Economic Research/Trade
Food and Agricultural Policy: Stylized Facts and Explanations
Abstract This paper describes agricultural policy choices and tests some predictions of major pol... more Abstract This paper describes agricultural policy choices and tests some predictions of major political economy theories, exploiting the new Anderson et al. (2008a) dataset of policy-induced price changes in 68 countries, affecting a total of 77 commodities from 1960 through ...
The negotiation and enforcement of international agreements and domestic policy change requires t... more The negotiation and enforcement of international agreements and domestic policy change requires the measurement of intervention levels. This paper reviews the principal techniques now available, and argues for the wider dissemination of aggregate tariffequivalent measures based on observable budget data. The Canada-US FTA and then the Uruguay Round agreement pioneered the use of aggregate measures, as opposed to instrument-by-instrument negotiation. Further development of this approach could help make policies more transparent and facilitate further reforms. To help international agencies construct the most useful possible measures, we show that aggregation on a tariff-equivalent basis (i.e. expressing distortions relative to product reference prices) can guide policymakers towards resource allocations that are consistent with maximizing a social welfare function at the chosen reference prices, whereas using the same data in other formulas produces different rankings. We show the frequency of ranking reversals using a variety of data sources, and thereby demonstrate that tariff-equivalent formulas are more useful than previous measures in guiding policy debates towards welfareenhancing reform.
Comparative advantage and government policy in Zimbabwean agriculture /
ABSTRACT
Soil Degradation, Technical Change and Government Policies in Southern Mali
ABSTRACT
Towards a Micronutrient-Rich, Aflatoxin-Free Peanut Value Chain in Ghana: Results of a Comprehensive Assessment
European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety, 2015
Southern Africa is strongly tied to the European economy, but their bilateral trade occurs in the... more Southern Africa is strongly tied to the European economy, but their bilateral trade occurs in the context of a global economy. Any change with respect to one trading partner will have repercussions for other partners. This study aims to inform trade negotiations between South Africa and the European Community by simulating the impacts of several possible trade agreements on themselves and on other trading partners. Excluding agriculture from any trade agreement, a sure EU aim, would be very costly to Africans. An agreement between Europe and South Africa would impose significant costs on the rest of southern Africa due to trade diversion unless the region undertakes its own liberalization.
The Experience of Resettled Farmers
African urban quarterly
ABSTRACT
This paper presents cross-country evidence confirming that countries with more ethnolinguistic di... more This paper presents cross-country evidence confirming that countries with more ethnolinguistic diversity have lower levels of economic growth. But, controlling for other factors, in a sample of 113 countries over the 1960-1990 period we find that the economic cost of diversity is small relative to the benefit of larger country size, and is smaller at higher levels of national income. We conclude that investments in national unity have been associated with faster growth, particularly (but not exclusively) when accompanied by other conditions favoring growth.
Why do so many African governments adopt predatory policies towards the private sector, when pro-... more Why do so many African governments adopt predatory policies towards the private sector, when pro-growth reforms might yield greater tax revenues as well as higher national income? In this paper we first use a growth regression which, controlling for the factors identified in previous studies, identifies taxation of primary exports and investment in agricultural R&D as independently significant correlates of economywide growth. We then posit a game-theoretic political economy model in which the government sets these two policy instruments in strategic interaction with domestic producers. We find significant evidence that some African policymakers could be trapped in a low-growth equilibrium, which they can break only when changes in game structure (and hence institutions such as political parties) allow them to make credible commitments to pro-growth, low-tax/high-investment strategies.
Notices 1 Effective January 2007, the Discussion Paper series within each division and the Direct... more Notices 1 Effective January 2007, the Discussion Paper series within each division and the Director General's Office of IFPRI were merged into one IFPRI-wide Discussion Paper series. The new series begins with number 00689, reflecting the prior publication of 688 discussion papers within the dispersed series. The earlier series are available on IFPRI's website at www.ifpri.org/pubs/otherpubs.htm#dp.
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Papers by William A Masters