Fri, 08/10/2012

The 2007 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Malawi has been released on IFPRI website. It is an economy-wide data framework using cross-entropy estimation techniques to depict the structure of the Malawian economy in the year of 2007. Developed by the Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD) at IFPRI, the SAM outlines the income and expenditure flows of 37 activities and commodities, and provides information on 5 types of factors of production and 10 representative household groups. It also identifies government, investment and foreign accounts. As an ideal tool for economy-wide impact assessments, including SAM-based multiplier analysis and computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, it could be used to strengthen the evidence underlying policy decisions in the country.

Besides the SAM for Malawi, IFPRI recently released several others, including a 2007 SAM for Uganda, a 2006 SAM for Rwanda, and a 2006 SAM for Nigeria.  The results of those case studies have been published in the new book Strategies and priorities for African agriculture: Economywide perspectives from country studies edited by Xinshen Diao, James Thurlow, Samuel Benin and Shenggen Fan.

SAMs for the other countries in the book will be released soon. Please check IFPRI Dataverse for further information.

Useful Links:

• What is a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)?
• Blogpost about the book: Investing in African Agriculture