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Patterns of Rural Development: A Cross‐Country Comparison using Microeconomic Data

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  • Paul Winters
  • Timothy Essam
  • Alberto Zezza
  • Benjamin Davis
  • Calogero Carletto

Abstract

This article proposes a general pattern of rural development in which increases in per capita income are associated with a decline in the importance of agricultural production and a rise in the importance of non‐agricultural income sources. Following the approach to examining Engel’s Law, we use data from 15 developing countries and a merged dataset to test whether such a pattern emerges. The analysis shows a strong, positive relationship between per capita income and the share of income earned from rural non‐agricultural wage employment and a negative relationship between per capita income and agricultural production.

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  • Paul Winters & Timothy Essam & Alberto Zezza & Benjamin Davis & Calogero Carletto, 2010. "Patterns of Rural Development: A Cross‐Country Comparison using Microeconomic Data," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 628-651, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:61:y:2010:i:3:p:628-651
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00265.x
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    2. Xiaoping Zhou & Xiaotian Li & Wei Song & Xiangbin Kong & Xiao Lu, 2021. "Farmland Transitions in China: An Advocacy Coalition Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Asif Z. Warsi & Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik, 2015. "Determinants of agricultural production: A Cross-country Sensitivity analysis," South Asian Journal of Management Sciences (SAJMS), Iqra University, Iqra University, vol. 9(2), pages 32-42, Fall.
    4. Binswanger-Mkhize, Hans P. & Johnson, Timothy & Samboko, Paul Chimuka & You, Liangzhi, 2016. "The impact of urban growth on agricultural and rural non-farm growth in Kenya," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 249274, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    5. Davis, Benjamin & Di Giuseppe, Stefania & Zezza, Alberto, 2017. "Are African households (not) leaving agriculture? Patterns of households’ income sources in rural Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 153-174.
    6. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    7. Fałkowski, Jan, 2017. "Promoting change or preserving the status quo? The consequences of dominating local politics by agricultural interests," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 448-459.
    8. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu & Kwabena Asomanin Anaman, 2019. "A Political Economy Analysis of Income Diversification Activities of Rural Households in the Northern Region of Ghana," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(5), pages 10-34, September.
    9. Fałkowski, Jan, 2016. "Promoting change or preserving the status quo? - the consequences of dominating local politics by agricultural interests. Some evidence on structural change in Poland during the transition period," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 245115, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Benjamin Davis & Paul Winters & Thomas Reardon & Kostas Stamoulis, 2009. "Rural nonfarm employment and farming: household‐level linkages," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 119-123, March.
    11. Vellema, W. & Buritica Casanova, A. & Gonzalez, C. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "The effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-25.
    12. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    13. Nadia Huffman & Wallace Huffman, 2021. "Convergence theory and conditional income convergence among sub‐Saharan African countries," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(6), pages 915-925, November.
    14. Van Hoyweghen, Kaat & Van Den Broek, Goedele & Maertens, Miet, 2018. "Understanding the importance of wage employment for rural development: Evidence from Senegal," Working Papers 272323, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    15. Sayla Khandoker & Alka Singh & Shivendra Kumar Srivastava, 2022. "Leveraging farm production diversity for dietary diversity: evidence from national level panel data," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Ulf Römer & Oliver Mußhoff & Ron Weber & Calum G. Turvey, 2018. "Assessing the Reliability of Self‐reported Income Information in Informal Small Business Lending through a Bogus Pipeline Experiment," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 726-738, September.
    17. D'Amico, Mario & Coppola, Adele & Chinnici, Gaetano & Di Vita, Giuseppe & Pappalardo, Gioacchino, 2012. "EU Agricultural Systems in the new CAP perspectives," 126th Seminar, June 27-29, 2012, Capri, Italy 126116, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Headey, Derek, 2011. "Was the global food crisis really a crisis?: Simulations versus self-reporting," IFPRI discussion papers 1087, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Ugo Pica-Ciamarra & Luca Tasciotti & Joachim Otte & Alberto Zezza, 2015. "Livestock in the Household Economy: Cross-Country Evidence from Microeconomic Data," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(1), pages 61-81, January.
    20. Tran, Tuyen & Vu, Huong, 2013. "Farmland loss, nonfarm diversification and inequality: A micro-econometric analysis of household surveys in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 47596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Davis,Benjamin K. & Di Giuseppe,Stefania & Zezza,Alberto & Davis,Benjamin K. & Di Giuseppe,Stefania & Zezza,Alberto, 2014. "Income diversification patterns in rural Sub-Saharan Africa : reassessing the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7108, The World Bank.
    22. Govinda P. Sharma & Ram Pandit & Ben White & Maksym Polyakov, 2020. "The income diversification strategies of smallholders in the hills of Nepal," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(6), pages 804-825, November.
    23. Sukhwinder Singh & Andrew D. Jones & Ruth S. DeFries & Meha Jain, 2020. "The association between crop and income diversity and farmer intra-household dietary diversity in India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 369-390, April.
    24. Kaat Van Hoyweghen & Goedele Van den Broeck & Miet Maertens, 2020. "Employment Dynamics and Linkages in the Rural Economy: Insights from Senegal," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 904-928, September.
    25. Marco Stampini & Benjamin Davis, 2009. "Does nonagricultural labor relax farmers’ credit constraints? Evidence from longitudinal data for Vietnam," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 177-188, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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