Steven Block – Associate Professor of International Economics
Professor Steven Block is an economist studying food and agricultural policy, household nutrition, economic growth and rural development. In past research, he has focused on two topics: the effects of governance on economic growth in developing countries, particularly in Africa, and the factors influencing household nutritional status. Nutritional deficiencies, which have significant developmental implications for children, also have significant macro effects due to lower productivity in adults, who themselves were iron-deficient as children. Through this research, Block raised two important questions:
- How have macro-shocks to the Indonesian economy affected the micro-nutrient levels in children? and
- How does human capital account for the difference between households with children suffering from micro-nutritional deficiencies and those with healthier children?
Block's most recent research addresses the political economy of agricultural trade protection in Africa. Along with co-author Professor Robert Bates (Harvard University), Block draws on a new World Bank data set of trade interventions to provide political economy explanations for African governments' persistent discrimination against agriculture. The explanation lies largely in the fact that Africa's farmers, though a majority in every country, are widely dispersed, making organization costly and undermining their political influence. Thus the larger the rural population share, the greater the policy bias against agriculture. Yet, Block and Bates find that in countries with competitive electoral systems, rural majorities fare much better—an outcome reflected in substantially more supportive agricultural trade policies.
Block will soon begin collaboration on a new project that seeks to link agricultural trade interventions to child nutritional outcomes in Africa. Block and his collaborators hypothesize that to the extent that agricultural trade interventions have tended to reduce the incomes of African farmers, this could translate into worse nutritional outcomes for the children of farmers. As childhood malnutrition can have life-long effects, including reduced labor productivity, trade interventions that reduce farm incomes could have long-term negative growth effects.
At Fletcher, Block draws upon his extensive field and research experience to teach courses on Development Economics, Agriculture and Rural Development, Political Economy of Reform and Growth and Equity. Through his courses, he says, students “learn to think analytically about the challenges of development in poor countries, and to be critical consumers of economic policy proposals.”