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WORKING PAPERS
December 12, 2008
Post-doctoral fellow Jenny Aker assesses the impact of weather shocks on grain markets in Niger. Droughts and crop failures occurred in Niger in both 2000 and 2004, but only the 2004 drought resulted in a severe food crisis. Many were quick to cite market failure and hoarding as causes of the cri...
ESSAYS
December 12, 2008
Post-doctoral fellow Jenny C. Aker supports the innovation of the World Food Program's new Purchase-for-Progress initiative but argues that it might not be the panacea that others claim. She questions some of the assumptions of the P4P and cites some potential unintended consequences, especially for...
Blog Post
November 03, 2008
This is a joint posting with Rebecca Schutte
Is purchasing food aid locally the answer to higher global food prices and the inefficiencies associated with imported food aid? The World Food Program (WFP), the Bill and Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations seem to think so. While donors an...
WORKING PAPERS
October 27, 2008
How is information technology affecting markets and welfare in low income countries? According to a new CGD working paper by post-doctoral fellow Jenny Aker, the introduction of cell phones in Niger reduced grain price differences across markets by 20 percent between 2001 and 2006. The primary rea...
CGD NOTES
October 27, 2008
Cell phones are transforming markets in low-income countries, especially in rural sub-Saharan Africa. In this CGD Note, post-doctoral fellow Jenny Aker documents the positive impact of cell phones in Niger, which the UN ranks as the world’s poorest country. Aker finds that phones are associated on...
ESSAYS
September 16, 2008
In this essay, CGD post-doctoral fellow Jenny Aker analyzes the performance of grain markets in Niger during its 2005 food crisis, when an estimated 2.4 million people were affected by severe food shortages, to find ways to avoid future crises. She finds that local grain markets are highly responsiv...
Feb
12
2008
12:00—1:00 PM
February 07, 2008
Due partly to costly information, price dispersion across markets is common in developed and developing countries. Between 2001 and 2006, cell phone service was phased in throughout Niger, providing an alternative and cheaper search technology to grain traders and other market actors. We construct a...