The World Bank recognized the VLS dataset as an "International Public Good" and the "goose that lays the golden eggs" and it has been extensively cited for its significance in providing valuable insights into rural development pathways in meeting global development challenges.
It is hard to think of any other data set in development economics that has been as influential as the village level data collected between 1975 and 1984 ... Even though only 240 households were covered by the core data set...some of the most influential articles in empirical development used this data set, on themes such as nutrition, technology adoption, tenancy contracts, activity choice, consumption smoothing or risk sharing. Many stylized facts about the microeconomics of development appear to stem from these villages. Take a random published empirical paper dealing with the microeconomics of development written between 1985 and the mid-1990s and the odds are that it will be a paper on these six villages (Badiani et al., 2007, p.1)
- Stefan Dercon of Oxford University
Over 150 research papers and more than 40 doctoral dissertations have been based on empirical analysis of VLS data in the semi-arid tropics of India and West Africa. A recent search in Google scholar shows that this body of work has generated over 10,000 citations.
ICRISAT’s village level studies have been used extensively to analyze agricultural decision making and technological change. Following are some of the impacts the studies have had:
- Led to recommendations that influenced a government decision not to hand over wastelands to private industry for afforestation
- Findings on seasonality and covariate risk, which limit the scope of credit societies and chit funds to finance agricultural investment in the SAT, had an effect on rural credit policy
- The government of India recognized the need for more flexible lending policies for dryland agriculture
- Studies on crop yield insurance in India influenced the design of crop insurance programs
- They were instrumental in documenting the importance of common property resources in the incomes and nutrition of the poor
- Led to the development of program components for biofuel and fodder production
- Development components were incorporated into relief works in India, especially minor irrigation and water harvesting structures.
Examples of impact of VLS:
Uniqueness of the VLS approach
The uniqueness of the approach stems from the year-round and uninterrupted collection of comprehensive household-, individual-, and plot-level data on agriculture, labor, expenditures, incomes and consumption for many years including splitting of households and migration of individuals. The studies:
- Furnish a laboratory in which research can be undertaken on a variety of topics in great detail as the need arises
- Are a multi-disciplinary approach, integrating biological, technical, social, and economic approaches
- Produce exceptionally high quality data from continuous engagement
- Facilitate the study of seasonality and the intensive scrutiny of social networks
- Enable the measurement of agricultural income, and consumption risks and therefore permit the evaluation of production, consumption, investment, agricultural, and social behaviors under risk
- Capture shocks that affect household welfare over a long period of time and hence establish a basis for assessing adjustments to risk from specific sources
- Provide the capability to trace seasonal, annual, and long-term changes in well-being that is conducive for the study of the dynamics of poverty and wealth acquisition
- Shed light on the pathways in which new technologies, policies, and programs impact poverty, village economies, and societies
- Enable the evaluation of the evolution of village economies over time and across villages.
Reference
- Badiani R. 2007. Temporary and permanent migration in six villages in the Semi-Arid Tropics, Research bulletin no. 22. Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.16 pp.