| This paper accesses the impact of changes in prices of cocoa, maize, and rice, on household welfare and poverty in Ghana during the 1990s. We use nonparametric analysis to assess the short-run impacts on income and the impacts on consumption first separately and then aggregately. Distributional impacts are also estimated by replicating the same analysis for households by income decile. Finally, an econometric analysis is used to check the long-run relationship between prices and welfare, while controlling for other factors. The results from the nonparametric and parametric analysis are consistent with each other. We find that the rising cocoa price had a big positive effect on household welfare in Ghana. Predictably, net sellers and net buyers were affected differently by the falling prices of maize and rice. However, these impacts were limited.; Key Words: Crop prices; Household welfare; Ghana... |
