Suchergebnisse

Despite a widespread trend toward the adoption of increasingly participatory approaches to political decision making in developing countries, there is little or no evidence that these practices in fact return the benefits attributed to them. This article investigates one specific worry—that participatory decision-making processes may be vulnerable to manipulation by elites. The authors report on a field experiment, drawing on a unique nationwide experiment in democratic deliberation in São Tomé and Príncipe in which the discussion leaders were randomly assigned across meetings. The randomization procedure provides a rare opportunity to identify the impact of leaders on the outcomes of group deliberations. They find that leader effects were extremely large, in many cases accounting for over one-third of all variation in the outcomes of the national discussions. These results have important implications for the design of such deliberative practices. While the total effect of leadership cannot be assessed, it may still be possible to observe when leader influence occurs and to correct for leader effects in comparisons of outcomes across deliberations.

Abstract. A model of inter‐ and intra‐annual food price variability is presented to study the impacts of government food‐market interventions in the Philippines. A conceptually simple econometric model is described that provides a general method for testing the impact of government stock changes on prices at farmgate and retail levels. Monthly price and stock data for the period 1975–1992 are used to empirically measure the influence of Philippine government buffer‐stock programs on seasonal and annual variability of producer and consumer rice prices. NFA stock changes are shown to have had no significant stabilizing influence on seasonal and annual price changes at the aggregate level.

OBJECTIVES: Food price data is routinely collected by governments but has not been utilized to its full potential for tracking the cost of nutritious diets. Food prices typically are used to monitor the cost of a basket of goods purchased by consumers, which may bear little relation to recommended diets. National food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) attempt to provide specific, actionable recommendations for diets that meet nutritional needs and protect long-term health, based on expert evidence review and in-country dialogue. The objective of this research is to show how governments can use their food price data to track the cost of meeting FBDG. METHODS: The Cost of Recommended Diets (CoRD) is an estimate of the minimum cost of meeting FBDG. It requires data on food prices and quantitative FBDG. Food price data can be sourced from national statistical organizations that track inflation using a Consumer Price Index (CPI); from ministries of food/agriculture/trade; and from national household budget surveys. CoRD is calculated by identifying the least-cost 2–3 foods (by edible portion) in each food category contained in FBDG (e.g., starchy staples, protein foods, dairy, fruits, vegetables, oils), and summing the mean cost of obtaining the average gram amounts of each group. We demonstrate the results of CoRD using data from Ghana. A stakeholder dialogue was conducted with official food price data collectors in Ghana in 2016–2018 on the applicability of CoRD within existing monitoring systems. RESULTS: Using data from the Ghana Statistical Service and the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), we find that meeting FBDG for vegetables and fruits is relatively expensive compared to starchy staples and the cheapest forms of protein foods, and that consumers typically underspend on fruits and vegetables compared to the expenditure shares required to obtain recommended amounts. MoFA has made changes in their food price monitoring system to enable tracking of CoRD. CONCLUSIONS: The CoRD indicator is a ...

About 690 million people are chronically undernourished, roughly 2 billion experience food insecurity, and around 3 billion people cannot afford enough of the diverse foods needed for a healthy diet, even as all countries of the world have a rising burden on diet-related disease from consumption of unhealthy foods. This research brief aims to extend previous work on diet cost and affordability such as the SOFI 2020 report to address the hidden costs of meal preparation inside the home, after foods are grown or purchased by each household. We start with market prices for the most affordable items with which to prepare a basic meal in 168 countries around the world, then address the cost of switching between pulses and animal protein foods that people may choose, and the costs of switching between raw ingredients and precooked items such as canned beans, tomatoes or fish. To quantify the cost of meal preparation, we focus on fuel use for rural households in East Africa, and consider the cost of the charcoal, gas or electricity required for cooking the least-cost dry pulses in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. This analysis is just a first step towards measuring the cost and affordability of meal preparation, which depends on many factors such as a household's kitchen equipment, water and fuel sources, distance to markets, demographic composition and cost of time. Our work on the hidden costs of meal preparation goes beyond market prices of food itself to consider other barriers to consumption of a healthy diet by each household, and complements true cost accounting that takes account of environmental or social externalities from production and distribution of food, as well as the health externalities involved in food consumption. The data shown here reveal that even just the raw ingredients for a basic plate are often unaffordable for the poorest, and the added cost of time and fuel can make such meals prohibitively expensive. Results suggest two main avenues for policy action. First, governments now can and should use the information on the least costly way to meet dietary standards to inform poverty lines and provide targeted assistance to ensure that citizens can acquire safe and nutritious items in sufficient quantities for an active and healthy life, using local- appropriate safety nets. Second, food policies should recognize the hidden costs of meal preparation that often put healthier, more sustainable diets out of reach. Overcoming the hidden barriers to preparation of healthy meals will require support for helpful forms of food processing such as cooking and canning beans, fish, tomatoes or other foods that preserve or even enhance nutritional values, while simultaneously taking action to limit potentially forms of ultra- processing such as excessive levels of added sugar, salt or trans fat and other factors associated with diet-related disease. Actions that support helpful forms of food processing while limiting harmful processing could help households improve diet quality, while also reducing the time burden, respiratory diseases and climate- change consequences of using wood or charcoal for cooking, as well as other inefficient and inequitable aspects of meal preparation. Taken together, food-based safety nets and improvements in the food environment can make healthy diets affordable for all people at all times, to help every country reach global development goals.