Research & Publications

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Evaluating the impact of a large-scale government effort to improve fertilizer use in Ethiopia. (with Ellen McCullough and Guush Berhane)

This paper evaluates two major mechanisms that Ethiopia’s government implemented to improve fertilizer use - establishing fertilizer blending facilities to increase the supply of locally appropriate fertilizer blends and bolstering demand for blended fertilizer products by demonstrating their agronomic effects on more than 30,000 comparison plots nationwide. The paper uses detailed panel data at the household and community level to measure the causal impacts of both fertilizer promotion efforts on fertilizer adoption. To identify the impacts of these interventions in a causal framework, I exploit spatial and exogenous temporal variation in the rollout of fertilizer blending facilities. I find that fertilizer blending facilities helped to facilitate substituting an old fertilizer product with the newly introduced blended fertilizer but did not lead to improved fertilizer adoption. Furthermore, I find that the establishment of fertilizer demonstration plots significantly increased fertilizer adoption.

Engaging men in household chores and child care through mobile phone-delivered behavior change communications (BCC). (with Ellen McCullough, Tamara McGavock, and Nicholas P. Magnan)

This paper experimentally investigates the impact of a behavioral intervention that focused on encouraging men to participate in household chores and share women’s burden. Specifically, we conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) among poor households in Ethiopia, randomly assigning one influential male household member from each selected household to a treatment group, which receives phone calls to reinforce the content of a gender training message already delivered in an in-person training. Our intervention lasted for three months, encouraging men to participation in household chores and childcare, through six phone calls made on a biweekly basis. We find that men’s participation and women’s level of satisfaction in Men’s participation increased significantly. We also find that the intervention led to increased participation in household chores by children. Our results indicate that phone-based behavior change communication interventions could offer a promising, inexpensive way to change behavior.

Measuring dietary diversity with high-frequency mobile phone interviews in Ethiopia. (with Ellen McCullough and Tamara McGavock)

We experimentally validate a novel method of collecting diet outcomes through high-frequency phone call surveys in Ethiopia. Our method extends the reference period for diet outcomes without the need to increase respondents recall period. We randomly assigned households to collect diet data through phone calls two times a day over a 7- day window, with each call corresponding to a short, bounded recall period. Our results show that respondents report similar food item consumption with our new ‘frequent and bounded recall period survey’ (FBR) method compared to traditional in-person single interview (SI) method when the reference period is short (24-hour). When the reference period is long (7-day), respondents are more likely to report having consumed most food groups when assigned the FBR method. We also find that, compared to the FBR method, the traditional in-person SI survey method underestimates household’s likelihood of eating away from home, and overestimates likelihood of participation in fasting. In the manuscript, we have highlighted possible mechanisms for these results.

Calling for time: Examining bias in time use measurement using high-frequency phone surveys (with Ellen McCullough and Tamara McGavock)

Stifled by stigma? Experimental effects of updating husbands’ beliefs on participation in women’s household work. (with Tamara McGavock, Ellen McCullough, and Nicholas Magnan)

Who is asking and how? The effects of enumerator gender and survey method in measuring intimate partner violence. (with Tamara McGavock, Nicholas Magnan, and Aditi Kadam)

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Zezza, Alberto; Mcgee, Kevin; Wollburg, Philip; Assefa, Thomas; Gourlay, Sydney. (2023). From Necessity to Opportunity: Lessons for Integrating Phone and In-Person Data Collection for Agricultural Statistics in a Post-Pandemic world. European Review of Agricultural Economics (forthcoming).

Hirvonen, K., Berhane, G., & Assefa, T. W. (2020). Assessing Community Health Information Systems: Evidence from Child Health Records in Food Insecure Areas of the Ethiopian Highlands. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 24, 1028–1037.

Gebrehiwot, K. G., Daniel, M., & Assefa, T. (2017). The impact of micro-irrigation on households’ welfare in the northern part of Ethiopia: an endogenous switching regression approach. Studies in Agricultural Economics, 119(3), 160–167.

Minten, B., Assefa, T., & Hirvonen, K. (2017). Can Agricultural Traders be Trusted? Evidence from Coffee in Ethiopia. World Development, 90, 77–88.

Assefa, T., Abebe, G., Lamoot, I., & Minten, B. (2016). Urban food retailing and food prices in Africa: the case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 6(2), 90–109.

BOOK CHAPTER

Berhane, G., Ragasa, C., Abate, G. T., & Assefa, T. W. (2020). Ethiopia. In K. E. Davis, S. C. Babu, & C. Ragasa (Eds.), Agricultural extension: Global status and performance in selected countries (pp. 185–224). International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Assefa, T. W., Tadesse, F., & Waller, M. (2013). Women’s Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia. International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), 2015.

Berhane, G., Golan, J., Hirvonen, K., Hoddinott, J., Kim, S., Taffesse, A. S., Abay, K., & Assefa, T. (2020). Evaluation of the Nutrition-sensitive Features of the Fourth Phase of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme. Ethiopian Strategy Support Program Working Paper (Issue 140).

Berhane, G., Ragasa, C., Abate, G. T., & Assefa, T. W. (2018). The state of agricultural extension services in Ethiopia and their contribution to agricultural productivity. Ethiopian Strategy Support Program Working Paper (Issue 118).

Minten, B., Assefa, T. W., Abebe, G., Engida, E., & Tamru, S. (2016). Food processing, transformation, and job creation: The case of Ethiopia’s enjera markets. Ethiopian Strategy Support Program Working Paper (Issue 96).

Assefa, T. W., & Minten, B. (2015). Can Agricultural Traders be Trusted? Evidence from Coffee in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Strategy Support Program Working Paper (Issue 72).

Bachewe, F., Berhane, G., Hirvonen, K., Hoddinott, J., Tadesse, F., Taffesse, A. S., Woldehanna, T., Abay, K., Assefa, T. W., Worku, I., Yimer, F., Yohannes, Y., Yigezu, B., Beyene, H., & Mohammed, A. (2015). Feed the Future (FtF) of Ethiopia – Midline report. Addis Ababa, ESSP-IFPRI.

Berhane, G., Devereux, S., Hoddinott, J., Hoel, J., Roelen, K., Abay, K., Assefa, T., Kimmel, M., Ledlie, N. (2015). Evaluation of the Social Cash Transfer Pilot Program, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, End-line report. Addis Ababa, ESSP-IFPRI.

Assefa, T. W., Girum, A., Lamoot, I., & Minten, B. (2013). Urban Food Retail in Africa: The Case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Strategy Support Program Working Paper (Issue 50).

Berhane, G., Hoddinott, J., Hoel, J., Assefa, T., Ledlie, N. Fredu, T., Schwab, B. (2013). Evaluation of the Social Cash Transfer Pilot Program, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, Mid-line report. Addis Ababa, ESSP-IFPRI.