Research
Work in progress:
The value of information: Evidence from Burkina-Faso sesame producers
Does market information through mobile phones enable African farmers to value their products better? To answer this question, we run a randomized controlled trial (RCT) focusing on sesame producers: an important cash crop in Burkina Faso. We consider two types of treatment: the first provides information on prices estimated at the regional level, and the second treatment includes information on price trends and gives instructions and advice on sales. On average, we find that the information signal increases prices paid to farmers by 4\%, but the effect on turnover is stronger. However, impacts differ according to the type of information received. Gains are concentrated among those receiving price information only. These gains occur through a change in commercial behavior: farmers reduce the frequency of their sales, concentrating their sales during peak price periods.
Keywords: Information technology; agriculture; impact evaluation; Market price information; Mobile phone; cash crops; Burkina Faso.
Publication:
Household Financial Flows: Evidence from Madagascar with Ahmed Tritah.
Revue économique, vol. 70, no. 5, 2019, pp. 847-871.
Mobile money is expanding rapidly across the African continent with the potential to raise financial inclusiveness. In this paper we investigate the impact of the introduction of mobile money in 2010 on the amount and frequency of funds sent and received among Malagasy households. We use a selection model combined with an instrumental variable approach to deal with the selective participation into the transfer market and the endogeneity of mobile money adoption. We show that access to mobile money has triggered more financial transactions between households at both the extensive (number of potential users) and intensive margin (level of funds). Our results suggest that transactions costs are important and act as barriers to entry for the poor. The advent of new communication technologies has the potential to alleviate these barriers and bring into secure financial transactions a large segment of a previously excluded population.
Non-academic publications:
Fuel poverty analysis in the light of the PHEBUS inquiry with Fateh Belaid and Olivier Teissier (2015). In french
Cet article vise à caractériser les ménages en précarité énergétique à partir des indicateurs retenus par l’Observatoire national de la précarité énergétique (ONPE) et calculés d’après l’enquête performance de l'habitat, équipements, besoins et usages de l'énergie (Phébus). Celle-ci présente l’intérêt d’approfondir la connaissance du phénomène de précarité énergétique, en offrant un indicateur synthétique de la performance énergétique des logements des ménages concernés (le diagnostic de performance énergétique - DPE) et de nouvelles variables liées aux pratiques des ménages (restriction de chauffage, difficultés de paiement, usages du chauffage). L’analyse confirme que les indicateurs retenus sont très liés aux caractéristiques socio-économiques et, dans une moindre mesure, aux caractéristiques du logement.
Work in progress:
Should we inform farmers about market prices? Or advise them on marketing strategies to adopt?
Environmental awareness and business performance and innovation: the case of UK companies with Fateh Belaid.
Tele-working during the appearance of the corona virus in developing countries : the case of Morocco.