Low-return livelihood strategies are crucial drivers of food insecurity that may cause irreversib... more Low-return livelihood strategies are crucial drivers of food insecurity that may cause irreversible long-term damage to livelihoods. Experiments and survey results were used to examine the relative importance of risk preference and socioeconomic characteristics for households' decision to engage in specific livelihood strategies in rural Ethiopia. Agricultural intensification and diversification are prevailing strategies, and farming households who participate in non-farm activities are better off than others. Education, information access, household income, and cooperative membership correlate significantly with high participation rates in non-farm activities and on-farm diversification. Risk preference is an especially important barrier to households' participation in these strategies. Therefore, policy interventions that help to expand farmers' asset base and reduce entry barriers to these strategies are required to improve smallholders' welfare.
Modern food retail outlets rapidly develop in Africa, yet their diffusion into the semi-processed... more Modern food retail outlets rapidly develop in Africa, yet their diffusion into the semi-processed and perishable sector is not well understood. Looking at consumption holds a lot of promise for that. Applying this novel demand side perspective to the dairy sector in Ethiopia, we show how increased economic ability, the presence of educated adult women, and retail outlet attributes are key factors shaping household purchase behaviour. Nevertheless, contrary to previous studies, we found a varied effect of these factors across dairy products. It suggests that modern retail diffusion into dairy supply chains is limited by the lower prices, the perceived quality of dairy products, and the reputation of traditional retail channels. Thus we add to discussions of how African households shop an analysis of non-price factors in the development of retail channels.
International Journal of Production Research, 2003
ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect jo... more ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect job shop performance was investigated. The performance of a job shop operating on a fixed 8-hour day schedule was compared with a job shop that had some flexibility to vary an employee's workday by compensating hours in excess of an 8-hour day with an equivalent amount of time off. Thus, each flexible workday policy maintains an average workday of 8 hours/day for each employee. We simulated a hypothetical job shop to assess the effects of various environmental factors and workday policies on measures of interest to management and labour. We found significant improvement in job flow time with overtime (and time off) as little as an average of 24 min for every 8 hours of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, dem... more This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, demonstrates that factors restricting women's participation in labor force and wage differences between women and men are related to the gender systems operating in Chiloe. Results indicate that these systems reflect the territory's demographic and agrarian history and that local gender systems have a positive influence on women's participation in the labor market, though this is not accompanied by decreased salary discrimination in the salmon industry. The implication is that territory-specific and gender factors must be considered in national employment policies.
Agrarian policies for food security and sustainable land use require the selection of appropriate... more Agrarian policies for food security and sustainable land use require the selection of appropriate policy instruments to influence farmers' resource allocation decisions. Climate variability implies that input use and agricultural yields vary according to weather expectations and actual rainfall conditions. Consequently, farmers' risk coping strategies should be based on flexibility in technological choice.
... Copyright 2009 by Ricardo Fort and Ruerd Ruben. All rights reserved. ... FT good and moving a... more ... Copyright 2009 by Ricardo Fort and Ruerd Ruben. All rights reserved. ... FT good and moving away from others. This behavior will be more likely to appear when farmers have a good perception about FT benefits and a reliable relationship with their farmer's association. Page 3. 2 ...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 2008
... by Ruerd Ruben, Lucie Van Schendel. ... Stephanie Ware Barrientos, Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Samu... more ... by Ruerd Ruben, Lucie Van Schendel. ... Stephanie Ware Barrientos, Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Samuel Asuming-Brempong, Daniel Sarpong, Nana Akua Anyidoho, Raphael Kaplinsky, et al. in Agricultural Economics (2008). Save reference to library · Related research 1 reader. ...
This document is part of the process titled 'Supporting developing countries' ability to raise ta... more This document is part of the process titled 'Supporting developing countries' ability to raise tax revenues' which was carried out within the framework of the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN) and organised by SOMO, Tax Justice Nederland, CIDIN, Oikos, Oxfam Novib, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Aiming to stimulate informed debate and discussion of issues related to the formulation and implementation of (Dutch) development policies, DPRN creates opportunities to promote an open exchange and dialogue between scientists, policymakers, development practitioners and the business sector in the Netherlands. For more information see www.DPRN.nl and www.global-connections.nl.
Low-return livelihood strategies are crucial drivers of food insecurity that may cause irreversib... more Low-return livelihood strategies are crucial drivers of food insecurity that may cause irreversible long-term damage to livelihoods. Experiments and survey results were used to examine the relative importance of risk preference and socioeconomic characteristics for households' decision to engage in specific livelihood strategies in rural Ethiopia. Agricultural intensification and diversification are prevailing strategies, and farming households who participate in non-farm activities are better off than others. Education, information access, household income, and cooperative membership correlate significantly with high participation rates in non-farm activities and on-farm diversification. Risk preference is an especially important barrier to households' participation in these strategies. Therefore, policy interventions that help to expand farmers' asset base and reduce entry barriers to these strategies are required to improve smallholders' welfare.
Modern food retail outlets rapidly develop in Africa, yet their diffusion into the semi-processed... more Modern food retail outlets rapidly develop in Africa, yet their diffusion into the semi-processed and perishable sector is not well understood. Looking at consumption holds a lot of promise for that. Applying this novel demand side perspective to the dairy sector in Ethiopia, we show how increased economic ability, the presence of educated adult women, and retail outlet attributes are key factors shaping household purchase behaviour. Nevertheless, contrary to previous studies, we found a varied effect of these factors across dairy products. It suggests that modern retail diffusion into dairy supply chains is limited by the lower prices, the perceived quality of dairy products, and the reputation of traditional retail channels. Thus we add to discussions of how African households shop an analysis of non-price factors in the development of retail channels.
International Journal of Production Research, 2003
ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect jo... more ABSTRACT The degree to which simple policies for varying the length of each workday can affect job shop performance was investigated. The performance of a job shop operating on a fixed 8-hour day schedule was compared with a job shop that had some flexibility to vary an employee's workday by compensating hours in excess of an 8-hour day with an equivalent amount of time off. Thus, each flexible workday policy maintains an average workday of 8 hours/day for each employee. We simulated a hypothetical job shop to assess the effects of various environmental factors and workday policies on measures of interest to management and labour. We found significant improvement in job flow time with overtime (and time off) as little as an average of 24 min for every 8 hours of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, dem... more This paper, which follows the emergence of the salmon industry in the 1990s in Chiloé, Chile, demonstrates that factors restricting women's participation in labor force and wage differences between women and men are related to the gender systems operating in Chiloe. Results indicate that these systems reflect the territory's demographic and agrarian history and that local gender systems have a positive influence on women's participation in the labor market, though this is not accompanied by decreased salary discrimination in the salmon industry. The implication is that territory-specific and gender factors must be considered in national employment policies.
Agrarian policies for food security and sustainable land use require the selection of appropriate... more Agrarian policies for food security and sustainable land use require the selection of appropriate policy instruments to influence farmers' resource allocation decisions. Climate variability implies that input use and agricultural yields vary according to weather expectations and actual rainfall conditions. Consequently, farmers' risk coping strategies should be based on flexibility in technological choice.
... Copyright 2009 by Ricardo Fort and Ruerd Ruben. All rights reserved. ... FT good and moving a... more ... Copyright 2009 by Ricardo Fort and Ruerd Ruben. All rights reserved. ... FT good and moving away from others. This behavior will be more likely to appear when farmers have a good perception about FT benefits and a reliable relationship with their farmer's association. Page 3. 2 ...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 2008
... by Ruerd Ruben, Lucie Van Schendel. ... Stephanie Ware Barrientos, Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Samu... more ... by Ruerd Ruben, Lucie Van Schendel. ... Stephanie Ware Barrientos, Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Samuel Asuming-Brempong, Daniel Sarpong, Nana Akua Anyidoho, Raphael Kaplinsky, et al. in Agricultural Economics (2008). Save reference to library · Related research 1 reader. ...
This document is part of the process titled 'Supporting developing countries' ability to raise ta... more This document is part of the process titled 'Supporting developing countries' ability to raise tax revenues' which was carried out within the framework of the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN) and organised by SOMO, Tax Justice Nederland, CIDIN, Oikos, Oxfam Novib, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Aiming to stimulate informed debate and discussion of issues related to the formulation and implementation of (Dutch) development policies, DPRN creates opportunities to promote an open exchange and dialogue between scientists, policymakers, development practitioners and the business sector in the Netherlands. For more information see www.DPRN.nl and www.global-connections.nl.
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