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Institution: University of Minnesota, USA
E-mail: geschuh@hhh.umn.edu
Biosummary:
G. Edward Schuh is a Regents Professor in Interntional Economic Policy at the University of Minnesota and Orville and Jane Freeman Professor of International Trade and Investment Policy in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He holds degrees from Purdue, Michigan State, and the University of Chicago. He has been Senior Staff Economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisors, been Under-Secretary of Agriculture, and served as Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the World Bank, as well as serving as Dean of the Humphey Institute for ten years. He currently is Chair of the Board on International Food and Agriculture, which advises the Agency for International Development on policy, and Chair of the U.S.Food Security Advisory Committee, which advises the government on food security issues.
Title: "The household: The neglected link in research and programs for poverty alleviation."
Theme: 1E
This paper addresses the importance of the household in programs of poverty alleviation and identifies research priorities for making the household a more effective vehicle for poverty alleviation programs. The importance of the household is rooted in its importance as the producer of an important share of a nation's human capital nutrition, health, and education. New technology for the household is a critical factor in raising productivity in the household. An increase in that productivity will release time of the woman and other members of the household for work on the farm and in the off-farm labor market. It will also raise the productivity of the woman and other members of the household in producing the human capital. The productivity of the household is a much-neglected area of research. We know little about how resources are used in that important production unit, nor has much attention been given to producing new technology for the household. The basic framework for the analysis in the paper is to consider the household as a production unit on a par with the farm unit.