Steered Away from the Fields : Short-Term Impacts of Oxen on Agricultural Production andIntra-household Labor Supply

Mechanization has the potential to boost agricultural production and reduce poverty in ruraleconomies, but its impacts remain poorly understood. This paper randomizes the subsidized provision of a pair oftraction oxen among 2,546 farmers in Côte d’Ivoire through a matching grant. The analysis finds positive impacts on households’ agricultural production during the agriculturalseason overlapping with oxen delivery, and additional increases in total land holdings and use of complementaryinputs in the subsequent season. The intervention affected household members in different ways, with wives anddaughters substantially reducing their work on the farm—especially in districts with more stringent gendernorms around handling oxen. In these districts, introducing traction oxen resulted in women shifting to off-farm work.The intervention also improved girls’ health and reduced school dropout among boys. The results provide novelevidence on the human development effects of mechanization, while highlighting how social prescriptions mediate theimpacts of technology within the household.