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[MacArthur, J.]

• MacArthur, J. D. (1978). "Appraising the distributional aspects of rural development projects: A Kenya case study." World Development 6(2): 167.

Based on a case study of alternative farming systems for settlement projects in Kenya, this study demonstrates different approaches for the weighting of income changes attributable to a project. Income changes to the new farmers are first estimated and weighted according to various approaches, especially through the use of a constant-elasticity social welfare function. The substantial amount of income changes that would ensue outside the farms following the implementation of either type of settlement approach are then assessed and weighted. On balance their aggregate value was negative at low elasticity values. Finally, reversing the normal cost-benefit sequence of efficiency appraisal followed by distributional evaluation, all non-income costs and benefits are shadow-priced to give an aggregate measure which shows the superiority of one farm system over the other at any elasticity value of the social welfare function.