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Can Agricultural Cooperatives Reduce Poverty? Heterogeneous Impact of Cooperative Membership on Farmers' Welfare in Rwanda
Author(s) -
Verhofstadt Ellen,
Maertens Miet
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
applied economic perspectives and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.4
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2040-5804
pISSN - 2040-5790
DOI - 10.1093/aepp/ppu021
Subject(s) - propensity score matching , poverty , welfare , matching (statistics) , agriculture , selection (genetic algorithm) , impact evaluation , selection bias , economics , business , demographic economics , economic growth , geography , statistics , computer science , market economy , mathematics , archaeology , artificial intelligence
We analyze the inclusiveness and effectiveness of agricultural cooperatives in Rwanda. We estimate mean income and poverty effects of cooperative membership using propensity score matching techniques. We analyze heterogeneous treatment effects across farmers by analyzing how estimated treatment effects vary over farm and farmer characteristics and over the estimated propensity score. We find that cooperative membership in general increases income and reduces poverty and that these effects are largest for larger farms and in more remote areas. We find evidence of a negative selection because impact is largest for farmers with the lowest propensity to be a cooperative member.