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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Jeffrey Bloem

Research Fellow

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Jeffrey Bloem

Bio

Jeff Bloem is a Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit at IFPRI. Jeff has research interests in applied microeconomics with applications in agriculture, conflict, and psychology. He completed his PhD in Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota and holds an MS in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics from Michigan State University and a BS in Economics from Calvin College, Michigan.

Publications

Personal Website

CV

Publications

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Working Paper

A network-driven data collection approach for agri-food value chains

2024Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; de Brauw, Alan; Herskowitz, Sylvan; Wagner, Julia
Details

A network-driven data collection approach for agri-food value chains

A key challenge in systematically collecting data on intermediary agri-food value chain actors is that value chains take the form of a network, with actors linked by a series of transactions. Moreover, we have limited ex ante knowledge about the structure or scale of these networks, which complicates the construction of valid sampling frames and limits traditional random sampling approaches to collect data. To address these challenges, we adapt the respondent-driven sampling approach to collect data on intermediary agri-food value chain actors within their transaction-linked network and implement this approach in the arabica coffee and soybean value chains in Uganda and the rice and potato value chains in Bangladesh. We observe meaningful heterogeneity in the structure and scale of agri-food value chains across commodities and countries. Focusing on traders, we show that the respondent-driven sampling approach generates a larger sample of traders who differ in observable characteristics (i.e., value added, enterprise scale, and financial access) compared to a sub-sample of traders generated in a way that mimics traditional random sampling approaches used to study traders. We conclude by discussing how this respondent-driven sampling approach, applied within transaction-linked networks, can provide a useful data collection method for studying intermediary agri-food value chain actors.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; de Brauw, Alan; Herskowitz, Sylvan; Wagner, Julia

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; de Brauw, Alan; Herskowitz, Sylvan; and Wagner, Julia. 2024. A network-driven data collection approach for agri-food value chains. Discussion Paper 2256. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/144207

Country/Region

Bangladesh; Uganda

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Southern Asia; Data; Agrifood Systems; Value Chains; Networks; Arabica Coffee; Soybeans; Rice; Potatoes

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Rethinking Food Markets

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

What I say depends on how you ask: Experimental evidence of the effect of framing on the measurement of attitudes

2024Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Rahman, Khandker Wahedur
Details

What I say depends on how you ask: Experimental evidence of the effect of framing on the measurement of attitudes

We use a survey experiment to document the presence of framing effects in the measurement of attitudes. Next, using standard techniques for generating aggregate indices, we find that statement framing can meaningfully influence the relationship of the index with relevant covariates—in some cases changing the magnitude, statistical significance, and even the sign of the estimated relationship. We conclude by discussing how randomizing statement framing across respondents can help address bias in the measurement of attitudes.

Year published

2024

Authors

Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Rahman, Khandker Wahedur

Citation

Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and Rahman, Khandker Wahedur. 2024. What I say depends on how you ask: Experimental evidence of the effect of framing on the measurement of attitudes. Economics Letters 238(May 2024): 111686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111686

Keywords

Attitudes; Human Behaviour; Research Methods; Survey Design; Measurement; Data Collection

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111686 Source record

Project

Digital Innovation

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Social protection amid a crisis: New evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant

2024Alloush, Mo; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Malacarne, J. G.
Details

Social protection amid a crisis: New evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant

This study estimates the effects of South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant on well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With household-level data collected before and during the pandemic, it leverages the age-eligibility threshold of the grant to estimate its effects on households in both periods. Prior to the pandemic, this study finds that grant receipt substantially improves economic well-being and decreases adult hunger at the household level. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, this study finds larger effects on both economic well-being and hunger than prior to the pandemic. In particular, recipient households were less likely to report running out of money for food and hunger among either adults or children. These results, which are stronger when pandemic-related lockdown policies are in place and for more vulnerable households, provide critical insight into the effectiveness of one of the world’s most well-known cash-transfer programs during a massive global health crisis.

Year published

2024

Authors

Alloush, Mo; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Malacarne, J. G.

Citation

Alloush, Mo; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and Malacarne, J. G. 2024. Social protection amid a crisis: New evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant. World Bank Economic Review 38(2): 371-393. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhad037

Country/Region

South Africa

Keywords

Africa; Southern Africa; Cash Transfers; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Disease; Coronavirinae; Covid-19; Data; Households; Hunger

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhad037 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Journal Article

Events

2023 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting
IFPRI at External Event

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July 23 to 25, 2023

2023 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting

Event: July 23, 2023 – 8:30 AM to July 25, 2023 – 4:15 PM EDT. IFPRI is participating in the 2023 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting.