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Why do women engage in transactional sex? While much of the explanation is that sex-for-money pays more than other jobs, we use a unique panel data set constructed from 192 self-reported diaries of sex workers in Western Kenya to show that women who supply transactional sex develop relationships with regular clients, and that these clients send transfers in response to negative income shocks. Regular clients are the primary source of interperson insurance that women receive, and women report in a separate survey that client transfers are an important reason that they participate in the market. (Contains 10 tables and 37 footnotes.)

The welfare impact of expanding access to bank accounts depends on whether accounts crowd out pre-existing financial relationships, or whether private gains from accounts are shared within social networks. In this experiment, we provided free bank accounts to a random subset of 885 households. Across households, we document positive spillovers: treatment households become less reliant on grown children and siblings living outside their village, and become more supportive of neighbours and friends within their village. Within households, we randomised which spouse was offered an account and find no evidence of negative spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a field experiment in Kenya, we document that providing individuals with simple informal savings technologies can substantially increase investment in preventative health and reduce vulnerability to health shocks. Simply providing a safe place to keep money was sufficient to increase health savings by 66 percent. Adding an earmarking feature was only helpful when funds were put toward emergencies, or for individuals that are frequently taxed by friends and relatives. Group-based savings and credit schemes had very large effects. (JEL C93, D14, D91, I12, O12) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many subjects in lab experiments exhibit small-stakes risk aversion, consistent with loss aversion. Those with greater math skills are less likely to show small-stakes risk aversion. We argue that departures from expected utility maximization may help explain why many firms in developing countries leave high expected return investments unexploited. We show that among a sample of Kenyan shopkeepers, inventories are negatively associated with small-stakes risk aversion and positively associated with math skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model farmers as facing small fixed costs of purchasing fertilizer and assume some are stochastically present biased and not fully sophisticated about this bias. Such farmers may procrastinate, postponing fertilizer purchases until later periods, when they may be too impatient to purchase fertilizer. Consistent with the model, many farmers in Western Kenya fail to take advantage of apparently profitable fertilizer investments, but they do invest in response to small, time-limited discounts on the cost of acquiring fertilizer (free delivery) just after harvest. Calibration suggests that this policy can yield higher welfare than either laissez-faire policies or heavy subsidies. (JEL Q13, Q12, Q16, Q18) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination into the effects of political instability on the economic growth of nations. Introductory details are given highlighting theoretical economic views on the detrimental aspects of political instability on economic capital accumulation and investment. Specific examples of these scenarios are given through analysis of the microeconomic conditions of Kenya during its 2007 disputed presidential election crisis. Figures charting the income, expenditures, food consumption of market vendors, shopkeepers and sex workers are including.

The article examines the efficacy and profitability of fertilizer use in Kenya. During a three-year period beginning in July, 2000, a randomly-selected group of farmers each applied separate treatments to three plots of land used to grow maize. One plot was farmed via traditional means without fertilizer, a second received fertilizer, and the third received both fertilizer and hybrid seeds. Results indicated that, although the combination of fertilizer and hybrid seeds produced the greatest increase in yield, the rate of return was highest for plot that received just fertilizer.