Rural Development

Investigates the role markets, risk and policy play in determining rural livelihood strategies and the adoption of agricultural technologies and the consequences of these outcomes for productivity and rural incomes.

Community Driven Development (CDD)
Presents research on the impact of CDD on Poverty targeting effectiveness of public service delivery, and sustainability of community infrastructure, and on a community’s capacity for collective action; on decentralization and CDD, and on the role of community organizations in enhancing the productive capacity of the poor.

Economics and Institutions of Water
Presents four studies that shed light on the economies of irrigation water pricing: (1) ‘Water institutions and Sector Performance;’ (2) ‘Guidelines for Pricing Irrigation Water Efficiency, Implementation Cost and Equity Consideration;’    (3) ‘Micro-Macro Linkages Irrigation Water Management;’ and (4) ‘Monopoly Power and Distribution in Fragmented Markets: The Case of Groundwater.’

Land Policy
Studies issues pertaining to land tenure, land markets, and land reform. Presents a Policy Research Report on ‘Land Policy for Growth and Poverty Reduction'.

Rural Informal and Micro Finance
Addresses the long-run impact of micro-credit programs; the consequences of increasing competition among micro-finance providers on the market for credit and the sustainability of micro-credit; the interaction of informal rural financial markets with formal financial intermediaries, including micro-credit providers; and the impact of new product/design innovations in micro-credit programs using randomized placement and a fully experimental evaluation design.

Rural Non-Farm Economy
Focuses on several areas that are of direct relevance to policy design, such as the contribution of infrastructure to the non-farm sector, the constraints on entrepreneurial activities in rural areas, and the relationship between rural poverty and the non-farm sector.