Publications

We assess the impact of a large-scale social protection intervention, Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), over a 15-year period. -We find that the PSNP had a positive impact on food security but inconsistent impacts on assets. There were positive impacts on fertilizer use, investments in terracing, and cereal yields but only when the program […]

We assess how one of the largest public works programmes in the world—Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)—affected violent conflict and civil unrest. Using difference-in-differences methods and linking administrative and geocoded conflict event data, we find that the PSNP did not change the risk of violent events, but reduced the likelihood of civil unrest by […]

A growing body of evidence now suggests that global warming increases the risk of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones (Seneviratne et al. 2021), and these shocks often force poor households to consume less or sell valuable assets, worsening their food security and increasing their vulnerability to chronic poverty. These effects […]

Agriculture and food production in Ethiopia are dominated by smallholder farmers and characterized by a low input-low output system. Mechanization of agriculture—in particular, the widespread adoption of tractors for land preparation and motorized pumps for irrigation—is considered by many to be the key to breaking this low-productivity system. Agricultural mechanization can improve the livelihoods of […]