Working papers/research in progress:
The impact of a reduced graduation model program on child nutrition in rural Ethiopia: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial (Pre-analysis plan, trial on-going)
with Jessica Leight, Daniel O. Gilligan, Michael Mulford, and Haleluya Tesfaye.
Conditionally accepted by Journal of Development Economics via pre-results review.
Do ultra-poor graduation programs build resilience against droughts? Evidence from rural Ethiopia
with Daniel O. Gilligan, Jessica Leight, Heleene Tambet, and Victor Villa.
See our VoxDev column.
The Effectiveness of Cash and Cash Plus Interventions on Livelihoods Outcomes: Evidence from a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
with Jessica Leight, and Sarim Zafar.
Building pathways out of poverty in Baidoa: A randomized controlled trial (Midline results, trial on-going)
with Jessica Leight, Naureen Karachiwalla and Deboleena Rakshit.
See our IFPRI blog post.
Revitalizing rural Malawi: Experimental evaluation of the economic impacts of capital injections to village savings and loans associations (trial ongoing: study registration and pre-analysis plan)
with Joachim De Weerdt, Chikumbutso Mtemwa, Lonester Sibande, Edwin Siyame, and Elizabeth Venable.
Can Social Assistance Reduce Violent Conflict and Civil Unrest? Evidence from a Large-scale Public Works Program in Ethiopia
with Elia Axinia Machado, and Andrew M. Simons.
Securing food, building livelihoods? A 15-year appraisal of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme
with John Hoddinott, Guush Berhane, Daniel Gilligan, Neha Kumar, Jeremy Lind, Rachel Sabates-Wheeler, and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse.
The role of social assistance in African crises: a systematic literature review
with Patricia Justino and Rodrigo Oliveira.
Articles in peer-reviewed journals:
Estimating the cost and affordability of healthy diets: How much do methods matter?
with Derek Headey, and Harold Alderman.
Food Policy, Vol 126, 102654, 2024.
"Methodological adjustments significantly reduce the estimated number of people who can't afford a healthy diet."
From animal feed to milk consumption: assessment of the risk of aflatoxin contamination
with Anchamo Anato, Derek Headey, Ashish Pokharel, Masresha Tessema, Felicia Wu, and Kaleab Baye
One Health, Vol 18, 100672. 2024.
"Limited aflatoxin awareness among farmers and poor feed storage are likely to result in compromised milk safety."
Study protocol to assess aflatoxin M1 health risks versus benefits of dairy consumption in Ethiopian children: an epidemiological trial and risk-benefit analysis
with Felicia Wu, Derek Headey, Ashish Pokharel, and Masresha Tessema
BMJ Open, 14(4), e084257. 2024.
"We will examine whether aflatoxin M1 exposure affects child growth, and weigh the benefits and risks of milk consumption."
Higher food prices can reduce poverty and stimulate growth in food production
with Derek Headey.
Nature Food, Vol 4, 699–706. 2023.
"Increases in real food prices seem to alleviate poverty in middle-income countries, with the exception of more urban or non-agrarian countries."
Measuring consumption over the phone: Evidence from a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia
with Gashaw T. Abate, Alan de Brauw, and Abdulazize Wolle.
Journal of Development Economics. 2023. Vol 161, March, 103026. Open Access.
"Phone survey in urban Ethiopia shows lower consumption estimates than in-person interviews, affecting poverty assessments."
Replication files.
Blog post.
Selected as the AAEA Africa Section's best publication for 2023.
Video-based behavioral change communication to change consumption patterns: Experimental evidence from urban Ethiopia
with Gashaw T. Abate, Kaleab Baye, Alan de Brauw, and Abdulazize Wolle.
Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. 2023. Vol 2: 164–180. Open Access.
"Videos promoting fruit and vegetable consumption increased their intake in urban Ethiopia."
Telescoping Error in Recalled Food Consumption: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Ethiopia
with Gashaw T. Abate, Alan de Brauw, John Gibson, and Abdulazize Wolle.
The World Bank Economic Review. 2022. Vol. 36(4), 889–908. Open Access.
Replication files.
"Telescoping bias affects food recall: two-visit approach reduces overreporting."
More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
with Elia Machado, Andrew Simons, and Vis Taraz.
Global Environmental Change, 2022, Vol. 75, 102549. Open Access.
"Ethiopia's safety net program increased tree cover by 4%, highlighting a significant environmental benefit."
Expanding social protection coverage with humanitarian aid: Lessons on targeting and transfer values from Ethiopia
with Rachel Sabates-Wheeler, Jeremy Lind, and John Hoddinott.
Journal of Development Studies. 2022. Vol 58 (10). Open Access.
"Ethiopia's safety net targets chronic food insecurity; humanitarian aid targes acute vulnerability."
Child feeding practices in rural Ethiopia show increasing consumption of unhealthy foods
with Woinshet Tizazu, Arnaud Laillou, Stanley Chitekwe, and Kaleab Baye.
Maternal & Child Nutrition. 2022. e13401. Open Access.
"Widespread breastfeeding, low dietary diversity, and a rise in ultra-processed food consumption among young children in rural Ethiopia."
Understanding delays in the introduction of complementary foods in rural Ethiopia
with Abdulazize Wolle, Arnaud Laillou, Vincenzo Vinci, Stanley Chitekwe, and Kaleab Baye.
Maternal & Child Nutrition, 2022, e13267. Open Access.
"Widespread delays in introducing complementary foods to infants, negatively associated with their growth."
Child growth faltering dynamics in food insecure districts in rural Ethiopia
with Abdulazize Wolle, Arnaud Laillou, Vincenzo Vinci, Stanley Chitekwe, and Kaleab Baye.
Maternal & Child Nutrition, 2022, e13262. Open Access.
"Maternal nutrition knowledge and a child's animal source food intake are linked to mitigated risk of acute and chronic child undernutrition in Ethiopia."
Institutional mistrust and child vaccination coverage in Africa
with Nik Stoop and Jean-Francois Maystadt.
BMJ Global Health, 2021, 6: e004595. Open Access.
Replication files.
Press coverage. See also our Conversation op-ed.
"Higher institutional mistrust in African subnational regions is associated with lower child vaccination rates."
Food consumption and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic in Addis Ababa
with Alan de Brauw and Gashaw T. Abate.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2021, 103(3): 772-789. Open Access.
"Household food consumption and dietary diversity remained largely unchanged during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the capital of Ethiopia."
Beneficiary views on cash and in-kind payments: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme
with John Hoddinott.
The World Bank Economic Review, 2021, 35(2): 398-413. Open Access.
"In Ethiopia, most social safety net program beneficiaries prefer receiving payments in food instead of cash, influenced by food prices and access to food markets."
Food prices, marketing margins, and shocks: Evidence from vegetables and the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia
with Belay Mohammed, Bart Minten and Seneshaw Tamru.
Agricultural Economics, 2021, 52(3): 407-421. Open Access.
"Pandemic-related trade disruptions led to varied vegetable price changes in Ethiopia, more significantly at the farm gate than retail, affecting local farmers differently."
Evidence from the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia. Complementarities between social protection and health policies
with Anne Bossuyt and Remy Pigois.
Development Policy Review, 2021, 39(4): 532-547.
"In rural Ethiopia, there is limited overlap among three major social protection programs, with high out-of-pocket health expenses and widespread health shocks among the poor."
Evaluation of Linear Growth at Higher Altitudes
with Kaleab Baye.
JAMA Pediatrics, 2020, 74(10): 977-984. Open Access.
Press coverage: The New York Times, CNN, Cosmos, Daily Mail, News Medical, New Kerala, ScienMag, Duodecim (in Finnish), MTV3 (in Finnish).
See our blog post.
"Children residing at higher altitudes have systematically different linear growth trajectories."
Geography of public service delivery in rural Ethiopia
with Gashaw T. Abate, Mekdim Dereje and Bart Minten.
World Development, 2020, 136, 105133. Open Access.
"Remoteness shapes agriculture and health service delivery differently."
This is US: geography of evidence in top Health Economics journals
Health Economics, Letter section, 2020, 29 (10): 1316-1323.
"Top health economics journals allocate limited space to low-income countries, and one-third of empirical articles do not mention the country in the title or abstract."
Assessing Community Health Information Systems: Evidence from Child Health Records in Food Insecure Areas of the Ethiopian Highlands
with Guush Berhane and Thomas Woldu Assefa
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2020, 24: 1028-1037. Open Access.
"Only one-third of children identified in household listings were recorded in health post records in rural Ethiopia."
Impact of Ethiopia’s 2015 drought on child undernutrition,
with Thomas Pave Sohnesen and Tom Bundervoet.
World Development, 2020, 131, 104964. Open Access.
"The 2015 drought in Ethiopia did not lead to widespread child undernutrition, but limited road network areas saw increased chronic undernutrition."
Affordability of the EAT–Lancet reference diet: a global analysis
with Yan Bai, Derek Headey and William Masters.
The Lancet Global Health, 2020, 8(1): e59-e66. Open Access.
Press coverage: VoxDev, Reuters, Devex, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, London Free Times, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun, ABS-CBN News , Canada.com, Today Online, National Tribune, Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), New Food Economy, Inverse.
See my focus article in Rural 21.
"The EAT-Lancet global diet is unaffordable for over 1.5 billion people, underscoring the need for widespread policy attention to improve access to healthy diets."
Rural food markets and child nutrition
with Derek Headey, John Hoddinott and David Stifel.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2019, 101(5):1311-1327. Open Access.
Press coverage: The Medical News, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), New Food Magazine, Addis Standard, Health Europa, ScienceMag, Medical Express, Newstrotteur.
"Children in proximity to markets that sell more non-staple food groups have more diverse diets."
Impacts of hosting forced migrants in poor countries
with Jean-François Maystadt, Athur Mabiso and Joachim Vandercasteelen.
Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2019, 1:12.1–12.21.
Energy and nutrient production in Ethiopia, 2011-2015: Implications to supporting healthy diets and food systems
with Kaleab Baye, Mekdim Dereje and Roseline Remans.
PLOS ONE, 2019, 14(3): e0213182. Open Access.
Cash crops and food security: Evidence from Ethiopian smallholder coffee producers
with Tadesse Kuma, Mekdim Dereje and Bart Minten.
Journal of Development Studies, 2019, 55(6): 1267-1284.
Earlier working paper version here.
Can governments promote homestead gardening at scale? Evidence from Ethiopia
with Derek Headey.
Global Food Security, 2018, 19: 40-47. Open Access.
Press coverage: Op-ed in Conversation.
Animal sourced foods and child stunting
with Derek Headey and John Hoddinott.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2018, 100(5): 1302–1319. Open Access.
Press coverage: Telegraph. See also Lawrence Haddad's blog post.
Linking taxation and social protection: Evidence on redistribution and poverty reduction in Ethiopia
with Giulia Mascagni and Keetie Roelen.
International Social Security Review, 2018, vol. 71(1).
Earlier working paper version here.
Replication files (zip folder).
Diet Transformation in Africa: The case of Ethiopia
with Ibrahim Worku Hassen, Mekdim Dereje and Bart Minten.
Agricultural Economics, 2017, 48 (supplement): 73–86. Special issue on Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS).
See our blog post on Malnutrition Deeply.
Children’s diets, nutrition knowledge and access to markets
with John Hoddinott, Bart Minten and David Stifel.
World Development, 2017, 95: 303–315. Open Access.
Agricultural Production and Children’s Diets: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
with John Hoddinott.
Agricultural Economics, 2017, 48(4): 469-480.
Replication files (zip file).
Does market access mitigate the impact of seasonality on child growth? Panel data evidence from northern Ethiopia
with Kibrewossen Abay.
Journal of Development Studies, 2017, 53(9), 1414-1429.
Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from coffee in Ethiopia
with Bart Minten and Thomas Woldu Assefa.
World Development, 2017, 90: 77-88.
Rural-urban differences in children's dietary diversity in Ethiopia: a Poisson decomposition analysis
Economics Letters, 2016, 147: 12-15.
Replication files (zip file).
Is exposure to poultry harmful to child nutrition? An observational analysis for rural Ethiopia
with Derek Headey.
PLOS ONE, 2016, 11(8), e0160590. Open Access.
Press coverage: the Economist. See also Derek's blog post in the World Bank’s WASH blog.
Risk Sharing and Internal Migration
with Joachim De Weerdt.
Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2016, 65(1): 63-86. Open Access.
This work was cited in the World Bank's 2014 World Development Report. See also our blog post.
Temperature changes, household consumption and internal migration: Evidence from rural Tanzania
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2016, 98(4): 1230-1249. Open Access.
Seasonality and household diets in Ethiopia
with Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse and Ibrahim Worku.
Public Health Nutrition, 2016, 19(10): 1723-1730.
Going Back Home: Internal Return Migration in Rural Tanzania
with Helene Bie Lilleør.
World Development, 2015, 70: 186-202. Open Access.
Replication files (zip file).
Measuring catch-up growth in malnourished populations
Annals of Human Biology, 2014, 41(1): 67-75.
Commentaries:
Healthy and affordable for who?
with Derek Headey.
One Earth, 2021, 4(9): 1189-1192 (September 2021). Voices: An optimal diet for planet and people.
Seasonality: a missing link in preventing undernutrition
with Kaleab Baye.
Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2020, Correspondence, 4(1): PE3.
Healthy diets – a privilege of the rich?
Rural 21, 2020, 54(3): 8-9.
Chapters in peer-reviewed books:
Diet affordability: Understanding the high cost of healthy diets
with Derek Headey, Harold Alderman, Saskia de Pee, and Kalyani Raghunathan. In Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition. Chapter 4, pp. 36-45. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Social Protection: Adaptive Safety Nets for Crisis Recovery
In 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses. Chapter 5, pp. 52-61. Washington, DC: IFPRI.
Delivery of Social Protection Programs to Combat COVID-19 in Africa
with Jan Duchoslav.
In Building Resilient African Food Systems After COVID-19, edited by John M. Ulimwengu, Mark A. Constas, and Éliane Ubalijoro. ReSAKSS 2021 Annual Trends and Outlook Report. Kigali and Washington, DC: AKADEMIYA2063 and IFPRI.
Farm Size, Food Security, and Welfare
with Kibrewossen Abay, and Bart Minten.
In Ethiopia's agrifood system: Past trends, present challenges, and future scenarios, edited by Paul A. Dorosh and Bart Minten, IFPRI, 2020; chapter 6: 147-168.
Changes in Child Undernutrition in Ethiopia (2000-2016)
with Jenna Golan, Derek Headey, and John Hoddinott.
In Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy, edited by F. Cheru, C. Cramer and A. Oqubay, Oxford University Press, 2019; chapter 23.
Designing social protection programs
with Guush Berhane.
In Boosting growth to end hunger by 2025: The role of social protection, edited by F. S. Wouterse and A. S. Taffesse. IFPRI, 2018; chapter 11: 154-160.
The African Enigma: The Mystery of Tall African Adults Despite Low Incomes
with Alexander Moradi.
In Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology, edited by J. Komlos and I. R. Kelly. Oxford University Press, 2016; chapter 33.
Resilience for food security in refugee-hosting communities
with Athur Mabiso, Jean-François Maystadt, Joachim Vandercasteelen.
In Resilience for food and nutrition security, edited by S. Fan, R. Pandya-Lorch and S. Yosef. IFPRI, 2014; chapter 6: 45-52. The 2015 drought in Ethiopia did not lead to widespread child undernutrition, but limited road network areas saw increased chronic undernutrition