Konstantinidis, Charalampos (Harry)

Charalampos (Harry) Konstantinidis

Biography

Charalampos (Harry) Konstantinidis  (Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston) 

Charalampos (Harry) Konstantinidis is an assistant professor of economics. His research focuses on the intersection of political economy and ecological economics. His recent work examines the socio-economic dimensions of the growth of organic farming in the EU, as well as the inverse relationship between farm size and productivity in rural Kenya. His work has appeared in Feminist Economics, and the Review of Radical Political Economics. Konstantinidis holds a PhD in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Abstract

Small Farms and Achieving the MDGs for Poverty and Hunger Reduction in Kenya

Despite recent economic growth, Kenya stands out in terms of its failure to achieve substantial progress toward meeting the MDG of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Given the central role of agricultural production toward achieving these goals, we examine the relationship between farm size and output per acre using the nationally representative Kenyan Integrated Household Budget and Expenditure Survey of 2006. We find a strong inverse relationship, while controlling for factors such as soil or slope type. Our results indicate that support for small farms could advance reductions to rural poverty and hunger by encouraging rural employment growth and increased food production, and that liberalization efforts of Kenya land markets could undermine the MDGs.