“Price Information, Inter-Village Networks, and 'Bargaining Spillovers': Experimental Evidence from Ghana,” with Hildebrandt, N., Romagnoli, G., and Soldani, E., (2020).
Through a randomized experiment and detailed data on communications among farmers, we identify the impact of text-messages-based commodity price information on rural farmers’ revenues. The intervention affected prices received by farmers in two ways: (1) a long-lasting increase (9%) for treated farmers, and (2) substantial indirect benefits for certain control group farmers, which cannot be explained by classical informational spillovers. We discuss a novel mechanism of bargaining spillovers which can explain such positive externalities, even in the absence of information sharing between the treatment and control groups. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for longer-run spillovers and the potential of ICT interventions in emerging markets.
Keren Neza, Yaw Nyarko, Angela Orozco. “Digital Trading and Market Platforms: Ghana Case Study” in Madon T., Anderson R.J., Casaburi L., Lee K., Rezaee A., Gadgil A.J. (eds.), An Introduction to Development Engineering, Springer, 2021.
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Nyarko, Y. (2018). Review of “The Economy of Ghana Sixty Years after Independence.” edited by Ernest Aryeetey and Ravi Kanbur, American Economic Association Journal of Economic Literature, 56(2), 697-701.
An independent central bank has the ability to set monetary policy free of political influence…
Nyarko, Y. (2017). Transforming Rural Africa - Economics, Technology and Governance. Journal of African Development, 19(1), 160-167.
AFEA/ASSA Luncheon Speech
Nyarko, Y. (2016). Rural Agricultural Markets: A Case Study in Ghana. Working paper prepared for the International Growth Centre (London School of Economics).
In this report we describe the start of a pilot baseline study of the soon to be established Ghana commodity exchange.
Nyarko, Y. (2016). Commodity Exchanges in Africa: Transforming African Agriculture and Finance (Policy Brief). International Growth Center (London School of Economics).
The Ghana government has recently decided to establish a commodities exchange and warehouse receipt system to improve the welfare of farmers.
Nyarko, Y., Goldfrank, L., Ogedegbe, G., Soghoian, S., & Aikins, A. D. G. (2015). Preparing for Ebola Virus Disease in West African Countries Not Yet Affected: Perspectives from Ghanaian Health Professionals. Globalization and Health, 11(1), 7.
The current Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic has ravaged the social fabric of three West African countries and affected people worldwide.
Gyimah-Brempong, K., & Nyarko, Y. (2015). Education, Internal Remittances and Safety Nets in Africa: Some Evidence. Journal of African Development, 17(1), 1-16.
This paper uses LSS data from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to investigate the effects of education on social safety nets proxied by internal migrant remittances in Africa.
Nyarko, Y. “Actors of Change in Africa: Human Capital and Markets.” Africa at a Fork in the Road: Taking Off or Disappointment Once Again?, edited by Ernesto Zedillo et al., Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, 355–363, 2015.
In this paper I will be presenting two ideas that I think are critical to economic development. The two ideas are markets and human capital.
Chakraborty, S., Tong, T., Chen, J., Aman, A., Mufti, T., Nyarko, Y., & Subramanian, L. (2013). Experiences in Designing a Mobile GIS Mapping Tool for Rural Farmers in Ghana. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development, ACM, p. 28.
The task of balancing problems associated with population growth and food production has often been impaired by a lack of accurate information on food supply availability in any given region or time.
Nyarko, Y. (2011). The Returns to the Brain Drain and Brain Circulation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some computations using data from Ghana (No. w16813). National Bureau of Economic Research.
We look at the decision of the government or “central planner” in the allocation of scarce governmental resources for tertiary education, as well as that for the individual. We provide estimates of the net present values, or cost and benefits.
Nyarko, Y., Gyimah-Brempong, K., & Peter-Hellwig, K. (2010). Review of African Household Survey Data on Social Safety-Nets and the Role of Education, Remittances and Migration. European Report on Development.
The question of the social protection of the poor and social safety-nets in Africa has recently received attention from the European Union, United Nations agencies, as well as in many academic papers and conferences.
Nyarko, Y., & Easterly, W. “Is the Brain Drain Good for Africa?” Skilled Immigration Today: Prospects, Problems, and Policies., edited by Bhagwati et al., Oxford University Press, 2009.
We build upon recent literature to do several exercises to assess benefits and costs of the brain drain to Africa. Contrary to a lot of the worries expressed in the media and in aid agencies, the brain drain is probably a net benefit to the source countries…