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Patterns of rural development: a cross-country comparison using microeconomic data

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  • Winters, Paul
  • Essam, Timothy
  • Davis, Benjamin
  • Zezza, Alberto
  • Carletto, Calogero
  • Stamoulis, Kostas

Abstract

This article proposes a general pattern of rural development in which rises 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 data set to test whether such a pattern emerges. The analysis shows a strong, positive relationship between rising per capita income and the share of income earned from rural non-agricultural activities and a negative relationship between per capita income and agricultural production.

Suggested Citation

  • Winters, Paul & Essam, Timothy & Davis, Benjamin & Zezza, Alberto & Carletto, Calogero & Stamoulis, Kostas, 2008. "Patterns of rural development: a cross-country comparison using microeconomic data," ESA Working Papers 289028, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:faoaes:289028
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.289028
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    5. 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.
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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).
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.
    21. 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.
    22. 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.
    23. 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.
    24. 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.
    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

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Community/Rural/Urban Development;

    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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