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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Danielle Resnick

Danielle Resnick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit and a Non-Resident Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on the political economy of agricultural policy and food systems, governance, and democratization, drawing on extensive fieldwork and policy engagement across Africa and South Asia.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Aditi Chugh

Research Analyst

Bio

Aditi is a Research Analyst in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit, based in Washington, DC. With eight years of professional experience across government and international organizations, Aditi’s expertise encompasses econometrics, research and data interpretation, applied political economic studies, policy and foresight analysis, and impact evaluation. Her sectoral focus has been on various aspects of agricultural policy and development, including the collection of agricultural statistics, farmers’ income, agricultural markets, and agricultural technology and innovation.

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Publications

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Working Paper

Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms

2025Chugh, Aditi; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms

Global calls to repurpose agricultural support toward more sustainable and equitable food systems have intensified scrutiny of fertilizer subsidies. While political economy constraints often hinder reform, the exact manifestation of these constraints is rarely examined. To clarify the specific mechanisms at play, this paper systematically reviews peer-reviewed studies from 2000 to 2025 and identifies 38 fertilizer subsidy reform cases across 15 countries. We code political economy factors influencing outcomes at different stages of subsidy adoption and redesign. The analysis shows that ideational factors around self-sufficiency, the private sector, and the social contract, as well as the institutional structures impacting policymaking, are central to successful subsidy introduction. Electoral incentives play a role at both the policy introduction and redesign phases. Yet, political economy factors are not the only prominent drivers. In fact, technocratic considerations about underperformance or corruption became more prominent during redesign efforts but were also present in more than 80 percent of failed cases. This reaffirms that while technocratic factors, including the availability of research and evidence are necessary for subsidy design improvements, they are not sufficient on their own. By distinguishing which political economy factors matter and how they interact with broader policy process dynamics, this study provides a more actionable foundation for anticipating and managing challenges to fertilizer subsidy reforms and repurposing more broadly.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chugh, Aditi; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Chugh, Aditi; and Resnick, Danielle. 2025. Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2397. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180322

Keywords

Fertilizers; Subsidies; Reforms; Policies; Political Ecology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Brief

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

2025Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen
Details

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

Subsidies are price distortions aimed at shifting incentives to generate a desired behavioral response. Agrifood system input subsidies aim to reduce the cost of components—such as fertilizer, fuel, animal feeds, vessels, and machinery—needed by farmers, fisherfolk, ranchers, and pastoralists to improve productivity. Such subsidies may occur in multiple forms, including vouchers that enable beneficiaries to receive a discount, a direct reduction in input retail prices borne by the state or distributors, or through tax reductions and exemptions. The cost of agricultural subsidies, inclusive of fertilizer subsidies, are estimated at USD 635 billion a year (Damania et al. 2023) while fisheries subsidies, including for fuel, fisheries management, and non-fuel tax exemptions, are estimated to total approximately USD 35 billion (Sumaila et al. 2019). While they can support poorer constituencies in the agrifood system who could not otherwise afford such inputs, subsidies can be prone to corruption and leakage to elites, generate negative environmental externalities, and place undue pressure on public sector finances (Amaglobeli, Benson, and Mogues 2024; Damania et al. 2023; Jayne et al. 2018). In addition, they can generate distributional conflicts among different constituencies—both within countries and across countries—and these conflicts can undermine program implementation as well as hinder needed reforms.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen

Citation

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; and Schutter, Marleen. 2026. Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs. CGIAR Policy Innovations Science Program Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181537

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Subsidies; Political Ecology; Fish; Fertilizers; Farm Inputs

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Preprint

Governing informality: Drivers of service provision in Nigeria’s food wholesale markets

2025Resnick, Danielle; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Chugh, Aditi
Details

Governing informality: Drivers of service provision in Nigeria’s food wholesale markets

How does governance affect service provision in Nigeria’s wholesale food markets? Sufficient services, such as water, waste collection, and toilet access, are essential for enhancing the safety of healthy and nutritious foods, such as vegetables and fish, and improving the welfare of those who depend on informal trade for their livelihoods. However, these are often substandard in many informal markets, exposing traders and consumers who rely on such markets to higher levels of foodborne hazards and undermining the efficacy of other food safety interventions. Using data from 299 wholesale markets across seven states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, this paper examines how four governance mechanisms-incentives, information, authority, and capacity-are associated with five services: waste collection, market toilet access, water provision, electricity, and security. We find that having an elected, rather than appointed, market chairperson positively influences waste collection and provision of security. By contrast, larger utility investments, such as water and electricity, are less influenced by governance structures within the markets. Markets located in local government areas (LGAs) under appointed rather than elected governments are associated with worse performance across all services, demonstrating that efforts to address market service delivery need to be embedded in a holistic understanding of multi-level governance dynamics. The findings emphasize that improving food safety and traders’ welfare via better service delivery requires empowering stakeholders in informal market governance who not only hold the authority to deliver a diverse set of services but also possess the political incentives to do so.

Year published

2025

Authors

Resnick, Danielle; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Chugh, Aditi

Citation

Resnick, Danielle; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; and Chugh, Aditi. 2025. Governing informality: Drivers of service provision in Nigeria’s food wholesale markets. SSRN Preprint available online April 29, 2025. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5207422

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Food Safety; Governance; Markets; Waste Collection

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Preprint