Breisinger, Clemens

Ecker, Olivier

Al-Riffai, Perrihan

Yu, Bingxin

This report aims to inform and stimulate the debate on key policy priorities for poverty reduction and food security in light of the Arab Awakening. Its findings are based on an innovative combination of datasets and rigorous economic analysis. Results suggest that poverty and income inequality in the Arab world are likely higher than official numbers have long suggested. Given that poverty indicators seem to be misleading for many countries in the region, the report introduces a new welfare measure reflecting food insecurity risks at both national and household levels to classify Arab countries into five risk groups. Regression analyses further show that, unlike in the rest of the world, manufacturing- and service sectorled growth, rather than agriculture-led growth, is most pro-poor in Arab countries. In addition, high levels of public spending in the Arab world do not do as much to stimulate growth as in other world regions, particularly in the case of education. Three key policy recommendations emerge from this report: (1) improve data and capacity as the basis for evidence-based decisionmaking, (2) foster growth that enhances food security at national and household levels, and (3) significantly enhance the efficiency and retool the allocation of public spending. More generally, the report argues that the region urgently needs national dialogues about societies' joint vision and economic development strategies. Successful design and implementation of these strategies will require visionary leadership, sound laws and institutions, politicians who are accountable and listen to the voices of the people, and civil society that is patient and accepts the tenets of democracy. The Arab world is awakeit is time to move forward.

Policies and Investments for Poverty Reduction and Food Security

Beyond the Arab Awakening

Maystadt, Jean-François

Guo, Zhe

Hunger and acute child malnutrition are increasingly concentrated in fragile countries and civil conflict zones. According to the United Nations, Yemen’s civil war has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. We use high-frequency panel data and district fixed-effects and household fixed-effects models to estimate the impact of civil conflict on child nutrition. Our results indicate that an increase by one standard deviation in civil conflict intensity translates into an increase in the prevalence of acute child malnutrition by at least 0.7 percentage points if measured by weight-for-height z-scores and by at least 1.7 percentage points if measured by mid-upper arm circumference z-scores. In mid-December 2018, Yemen’s main warring parties agreed to a ceasefire for the contested port city of Hodeida and to allow humanitarian aid to be shipped in and distributed through protected corridors. While the recent agreements are an important, first step to tackle the humanitarian crisis, the road to a sustainable peace agreement will certainly be long and bumpy. Relative stability could soon open a window of opportunity for targeted interventions to support recovery in Yemen. Against this background, our analysis suggests that unconditional cash transfers can be an effective tool in situations of complex emergencies. Our estimation results show that cash transfers can mitigate the detrimental impact of lingering civil conflict on child nutritional status in Yemen on a large scale. Our results also reveal that the regularity of transfer payments influence the magnitude of the mitigation effect, as regular assistance allows beneficiary households to smoothen their food consumption and other demands influencing child nutrition outcomes.

Can unconditional cash transfers mitigate the impact of civil conflict on acute child malnutrition in Yemen?: Evidence from the national social protection monitoring survey

Collins, Julia

Cenacchi, Nicola

Rosegrant, Mark W.

Joshi, Pramod Kumar

Hoddinott, John F.

Kishore, Avinash

Makombe, Tsitsi

Torero, Maximo

Stads, Gert-Jan

Koo, Jawoo

Robertson, Richard

Ringler, Claudia

Fan, Shenggen

Polman, Paul

Fisher, Myles

Cox, Cindy

Perez, Nicostrato

Garrett, Karen

Beintema, Nienke

Gillespie, Stuart

Badiane, Ousmane

Saade, Maurice

Akramov, Kamiljon

Cohen-Cline, Noah

Chen, Kevin

Timmer, Peter

Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio

This 2013 Global Food Policy Report is the third in an annual series that provides an in-depth look at major food policy developments and events. Initiated in response to resurgent interest in food and nutrition security, the series offers a yearly overview of the food policy developments that have contributed to or hindered progress in achieving food and nutrition security. It reviews what happened in food policy and why, examines key challenges and opportunities, shares new evidence and knowledge, and highlights emerging issues.

2013 Global Food Policy Report

El-Batrawy, Rawia

Nutrition and economic development: Exploring Egypt's exceptionalism and the role of food subsidies [in Chinese]

Ecker, Olivier

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