Three essays in development economics

Abstract

Many smallholder agricultural producers around the world struggle to make a living in difficultmarket environments. These producers face important decisions: whether to enter producer cooperatives, whether to remain loyal to these cooperatives, and whether to stay in rural agriculture or migrate to cities. They are influenced by the decisions of their peers, the market environment, and climate change. My research aims to better understand these decisions at the micro- and macro- levels. With these insights in hand, I hope to work with producer organizations to improve their services and local governments to improve their policies, in both cases to better serve smallholder producers.