Jeffrey Alwang Professor Growth and Development Ph.D. 1989, Cornell University Office: 215-I Hutcheson Hall Phone: (540) 231-6517 FAX: (540) 231-7417 E-mail: alwangj@vt.edu

Jeff Alwang joined the faculty in 1989. He conducts research on rural economic development, both domestically and abroad.  His key interests are factors affecting economic prospects for rural areas, and poverty and inequality in developing areas.  He is currently leading three major research projects in Latin America:  (i) an examination of drivers of broad-based growth in the Trifinio region of Central America; (ii) the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Project (SANREM CRSP) on livelihoods and watershed management in Ecuador and Bolivia; and (iii) the Integrated Pest Management CRSP in Ecuador and Honduras..

He teaches a graduate course in dynamic optimization, an undergraduate course in rural development, and graduate and undergraduate courses in international agricultural development.

His outside interests include oenology, mountain biking and Yankee baseball.

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Current Funding:

Allwang, J., D. Bosch, J. Cundiff, R. Hirsch, 2008-2011, USDA National Needs PhD Support Program, $239,000 over three years.

Alwang, J. W. Flowers, S. Tolin, P. Backman, G. Norton, S. Hamilton and S. Weller, 2006-2009, Ecuador, USAID Integrated Pest Management CRSP, $800,000 over four years.
 
Alwang, J.,  P. Backman, B. Benham, D. Bosch, W. Flowers, C. Haas, S. Hamilton, G. Norton and M. Wolfe.  July 2006, Ecuador and Bolivia, USAID Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management CRSP, $1.2 million over four years.

Alwang, J., H. Jansen and F. Pichon, 2006-2008, Central America Drivers of Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction.  Three-country case study designed to analyze the sources of rural growth and make recommendations about prioritization of investments, $415,000.

Selected Publications

Articles in refereed journals

Jeffrey Alwang and Estanislao Gacitua-Mario, "Poverty and Social Impact in the Agricultural Sector: Lessons from Experience,” Development Policy Review 25(2), March 2008, in press.

Jacob Ricker-Gilbert, George W. Norton, Jeffrey Alwang, Monayem Miah and Gershon Feder, “Cost Effectiveness of Alternative Integrated Pest Management Extension Methods: An Example from Bangladesh,” Review of Agricultural Economics, 2008, in press.

John H. Fike, David J. Parrish, Jeffrey Alwang and John S. Cundiff, “Challenges for deploying dedicated, large-scale, bioenergy systems in the USA,” CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 2(064), 2007.

Maria Mauceri, Jeffrey Alwang, George W. Norton and Victor Barrera, “Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Technologies:  A Case Study of Potato Farmers in Carchi, Ecuador,” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 39(3), December 2007: 765-780.

Sibusiso Moyo, George W. Norton, Jeffrey Alwang, Ingrid Rhinehart, and Mike Deom, Peanut Research and Poverty Reduction: Impacts of Variety Improvement to Control Peanut Viruses in Uganda, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 89(2) May 2007: 448-60.

Jeffrey Alwang and Paul B. Siegel, 2005, “Microinsurance and Social Risk Management,” Journal of Insurance and Risk Management, December 2005.

Jeffrey Alwang, “Poverty, Policy, and Space:  Discussion,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 86(5), December 2004: 1297-1298.

Víctor Barrera, Luis Escudero, Jeffrey Alwang and George Norton. 2003. “Finding paths to reduce costs and exposure to pesticides: experiences with the Farmer Field Schools in the northern part of Ecuador. LEISA: Magazine of Agroecology. Volume19, No.1. pp. 46-48.

Ebere Akobundu, Jeffrey Alwang, Albert Essel, George W. Norton and Abebayehu Tegene, Does Extension Work? Impacts of a Program to Assist Limited-Resource Farmers in Virginia,” Review of Agricultural Economics, 26(3), Fall 2004: 361-372.

Lire Ersado, Gregory Amacher and Jeffrey Alwang, “Productivity and Land Enhancing Technologies in Northern Ethiopia:  Health, Public Investments, and Sequential Adoption,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 86(2), May 2004: 321-331.

Paul B. Siegel, Jeffrey Alwang and Steen Lau Jorgensen, “Rediscovering Vulnerability through a Risk Chain: Views from Different Disciplines,” Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 2003 (vol. 42, no. 3) 351-370.

Lire Ersado, Harold Alderman and Jeffrey Alwang, “Changes in Consumption and Savings Behavior before and after Economic Shocks: Evidence from Zimbabwe,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, October 2003 52 (1), 187-215.

Jeffrey Alwang, Bradford F. Mills and Nelson Taruvinga, “Changes in well-being in Zimbabwe, 1990­1996: evidence using semi-parametric density estimates,” Journal of African Economies, 2002, 11(3), pp. 326-364.

Gautam Hazarika and Jeffrey Alwang, “Access to Credit, Plot Size, and Cost Inefficiency Among Smallholder Tobacco Cultivators in Malawi,” Agricultural Economics, 29(1), July 2003, pp.99-109.

Jeffrey Alwang and Paul B. Siegel, “Measuring the Impacts of Agricultural Research on Poverty Reduction: An Application to Malawi,” Agricultural Economics, 29(1), July 2003, pp.1-14.

Book chapters

Jansen, Hans G.P., Paul Siegel, Jeffrey Alwang and Francisco Pichon. “Geography, Livelihoods and Rural Poverty in Honduras:  An Empirical Analysis using an Asset-base Approach”. Pp. 221-256 in: Stephan Klasen and Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann (eds) Poverty, Inequality and Migration in Latin America. Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag, 2007.

Jeffrey Alwang, Stephen C. Weller, Guillermo E. Sanchez, Luis Calderon, C. Richard Edwards, Sarah Hamilton, Roger Williams, Mike Ellis, Carmen Suarez, Victor Barrera, Charles Crissman and George W. Norton  “Developing IPM packages in Latin America,” chapter 5 in Globalizing Integrated Pest Management: A Participatory Research Process, George W. Norton, E.A Heinrichs, Gregory C. Luther and Michael E. Irwin editors.  Ames Iowa: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, pp. 71-94.

George W. Norton and Jeffrey Alwang “Measuring Benefits of Policy-Oriented Social Science Research: Evidence from Two Developing Countries, Chapter 10 in Philip G. Pardey and Vincent H. Smith, eds. What’s Economics Worth? Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

Jeffrey Alwang and Paul B. Siegel.  Measuring the Impacts of Agricultural Research on Poverty Reduction: Improving the Dialogue between Policymakers and Research Managers,” Chapter 5 in Shantanu Mathur and Douglas Pachico, eds, Agricultural Research and Poverty Reduction:  Some Issues and Evidence.  Cali: CIAT Publications, 2003, pp. 71-90.

Other publications

George W. Norton, Jeffrey Alwang, and William A. Masters. Economics of Agricultural Development. New York: Routledge Press, 2006.

World Bank (2005) Drivers of Sustainable Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction in Central America: Guatemala Country Case Study, Gray Cover Report No. 31191-GT, Washington, D.C.

World Bank (2005) Drivers of Sustainable Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction in Central America: Honduras Country Case Study, Gray Cover Report No. 31192-HN, Washington, D.C.

World Bank  (2005) Drivers of Sustainable Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction in Central  America:  Nicaragua Country Case Study, Gray Cover Report No. 31193-NI, Washington, D.C.

Paul B. Siegel and Jeffrey Alwang.  February 2005.  “Public Investments in Tourism in Northeast Brazil: Does a Poor-area Strategy Benefit the Poor?”  Latin America and Caribbean Region Sustainable Development Working Paper 22.  The World Bank.

Jeffrey Alwang, Paul B. Siegel and David Wooddall-Gainey.  February 2005.  “Spatial Analysis of Rural Economic Growth Potential in Guatemala?”  Latin America and Caribbean Region Sustainable Development Working Paper 21.  The World Bank.

Victor Barrera, Luis Escudero, George Norton and Jeffrey Alwang. 2004. Encontrando Salidas para Reducir los Costos y la Exposicion a Plaguicidas en los Productores de Papa.  Experiencia del la Intervención en la Provincia del Carchi, Ecuador. Quito:  INIAP.

Jeffrey Alwang, Bradford F. Mills and Nelson Taruvinga. 2002. Why Has Poverty Increased in Zimbabwe? Poverty Dynamics in Africa Monograph. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. 56 pp.