Overview

The processes and consequences of household decision-making are investigated using multi-disciplinary research methods of decision analysis that involves statistical, mathematical, psychological, anthropological, and econometric techniques brought together in a holistic manner. This study is focused in the Ada and Selale regions of the Central Ethiopian Highlands. The technologies studied are fertilizer, improved crop varieties, pesticides, and cross-bred cows. Goals and strategies of households, institutions, access to information, indigenous knowledge, risk taking behavior, and their impacts on household decision-making were studied. Technology adoption was studied under a variety of controllable (e.g., allocation of labor) and uncontrollable (natural factors such as rainfall or government intervention) environments. The findings demonstrated that agricultural producers can attain greater increases in food production and the efficiency with which it is produced if they adopt at least two innovations. The study revealed that non-physical resources such as indigenous knowledge and institutions play a fundamental role on the ability of producers to achieve increases in food production. For development to be sustained, therefore, investments in physical resources should be matched with those in non-physical resources.

Full Product Details

Author:   Yohannes Kebede Gebre-Mariam
Publisher:   University Press of America
Imprint:   University Press of America
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.20cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9780761856412

ISBN 10:   0761856412
Pages:   362
Publication Date:   12 December 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Chapter I: prelude to Technology Adoption and Decision-Making Chapter II: Technology and Agrarian Development in Ethiopia: The Historical Origin of the Peasant Predicament Chapter III: From Households to Region: Background and Design of the Study Chapter IV: Review of Methods of Household Decision Analysis and Model Selection Chapter V: Cognition and Decision-Making: Goals, Strategies, Information, and Knowledge Chapter VI: The Institutional Basis for Decision-Making Chapter VII: Technology Adoption and Risk Chapter VIII: Production Structure, Efficiency and Risk in Peasant Agriculture Chapter IX: Structural Relations Between Socio-Economic Variables and Production Efficiency Chapter X: Conclusions and Recommendations Appendices Bibliography List of Figures List of Tables

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Author Information

Yohannes Kebede Gebre-Mariam is an environmental and energy economist and social scientist. He received his B.Sc. degree in agricultural economics from Addis Ababa University (now Alemaya University, Ethiopia), his M.Sc. degree in agricultural economics and his Ph.D. degree from a multidisciplinary program involving the departments of agricultural economics, economics, anthropology, and applied cognitive psychology from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Presently, he works as a senior economist for Government of the District of Columbia and as an adjunct professor economics and management with University of Phoenix and Florida Keys Community College.

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