Abstract:
The thesis is econometric analyses of various aspects of the rural economy in Northern Ethiopia using a panel data of 400 households from 16 communities. The thesis consists of five papers.

The first paper provides an in-depth analysis of poverty, its distribution, dynamics and its correlates by applying up-to-date tools of poverty analysis. The paper places the discussion within the framework of the role of economic reforms on poverty reduction in a remote, unstable and environmentally troubled region. The second paper addresses the issue of the efficacy of a micro-finance program in reaching out to the poor and measures the impact of program participation on households' participation in and level of income generated from non-farm employment, and its overall impact on changes in household welfare. The third paper examines the efficacy of food-for-work (FFW) programs in targeting the poor by emphasizing the role of FFW programs as means to provide safety nets to the poor.

The fourth paper examines farm households' decision to use purchased land quality enhancing inputs (e.g. fertilizer) and how this is affected by households' elicited risk preferences while controlling for institutional, plot, household and village level factors. The final paper analyzes the role of tenure insecurity, resource poverty, risk and time preferences, and public conservation programs on private investment by focusing on medium and long-term land conservation measures. The thrust of the last two papers is to add to the discourse on factors affecting farm households' investment behavior on land conservation by bringing in the role of behavioral responses of farm households facing chronic poverty and risk of livelihood collapse due to persistent exposure to external shocks. By doing so, this dissertation aims to contribute to an improved understanding of the relationship between poverty, institutions, peasant behavior and sustainability of resource use.

Key words: Land tenure, poverty, micro-finance, risk preferences, public conservation programs, institutions, sustainable resource use.

The dissertation was handed to the committee in May 2003, and sucessfully defended August 18, 2003. Professor Stein Holden was the advisor for this dissertation.

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Fitsum Hagos was born in Gulo Mekada (Tigray), Ethiopia in 1966. He previously holds a Bachelor degree in Philosophy from Adis Abeba University, Ethiopia (1988), and a Master of Arts degree in Development studies from the University of Leipzig, Germany (1993). He is currently a lecturer at the Department of Natural Resource Economics and Management, Mekelle University (Ethiopia).