Posh Spice or Scary Spice? Resource Booms, Wealth, and Human Capital across Ages

Christopher Boone, Heidi Kaila () and David Sahn
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Christopher Boone: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Heidi Kaila: World Bank

No 17085, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the impact of a six-fold increase in the global vanilla price on smallholder vanilla-farming households in Madagascar. The price increase leads to sizable gains in household assets and significant improvements in adult psychological well-being, cognitive performance, and optimism about the economy. In contrast, we find no significant effects on children's health or schooling. Given substantial evidence from the literature that improvements in household economic resources can have large effects on children over the long run, the lack of shorterterm effects in this setting may reflect the time-varying nature of the impact or the need for additional complementary investments.

Keywords: export commodities; agriculture; human capital; crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 I31 O12 O13 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 106 pages
Date: 2024-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hea and nep-neu
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