IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wil/wileco/2018-11.html

Rural Labor Market Responses to Large Lumpy Cash Transfers: Evidence from Malawi

Author

Abstract

We examine the impact of a lumpy agriculture-framed cash transfer on the day labor (ganyu) market using both spatial variation in the organization of households into farmer clubs and experimentally induced variation in transfers. In villages receiving larger cash disbursements, wages for agriculture day labor marginally increase, and overall employment falls. The employment results obscure important differential responses by transfer recipient (day labor supply falls) and non-recipient households (day labor supply increases). The village level wage impacts are driven by large, direct impacts of the transfer program on the demand for day labor and a reallocation of labor away from off-farm labor supply.

Suggested Citation

  • Kate Ambler & Alan de Brauw & Susan Godlonton, 2018. "Rural Labor Market Responses to Large Lumpy Cash Transfers: Evidence from Malawi," Department of Economics Working Papers 2018-11, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    • Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2018-11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/AmblerdeBrauwGodlonton_LumpyCashTransfers.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fink, Günther & Jack, Kelsey & Masiye, Felix, 2014. "Seasonal Credit Constraints and Agricultural Labor Supply: Evidence from Zambia," IZA Discussion Papers 8657, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Taryn Dinkelman, 2011. "The Effects of Rural Electrification on Employment: New Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3078-3108, December.
    3. Sarah Baird & Aislinn Bohren & Berk Ozler & Craig McIntosh, 2014. "Designing Experiments to Measure Spillover Effects," Working Papers 2014-11, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    4. Jennifer Alix-Garcia & Craig McIntosh & Katharine R. E. Sims & Jarrod R. Welch, 2013. "The Ecological Footprint of Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Mexico's Oportunidades Program," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 417-435, May.
    5. Sarah Baird & David McKenzie & Berk Özler, 2018. "The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Oriana Bandiera & Robin Burgess & Narayan Das & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2017. "Labor Markets and Poverty in Village Economies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 811-870.
    7. Mobarak, Ahmed Musfiq & Rosenzweig, Mark, 2013. "Risk, Insurance and Wages in General Equilibrium," Center Discussion Papers 161442, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    8. M. Angelucci & V. Di Maro, 2016. "Programme evaluation and spillover effects," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 22-43, March.
    9. Manuela Angelucci, 2015. "Migration and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Mexico," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 224-228, March.
    10. Anjini Kochar, 1999. "Smoothing Consumption by Smoothing Income: Hours-of-Work Responses to Idiosyncratic Agricultural Shocks in Rural India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 50-61, February.
    11. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Marianne Bertrand & Leigh L. Linden & Francisco Perez-Calle, 2008. "Conditional Cash Transfers in Education Design Features, Peer and Sibling Effects Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia," NBER Working Papers 13890, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Paul J. Gertler & Sebastian W. Martinez & Marta Rubio-Codina, 2012. "Investing Cash Transfers to Raise Long-Term Living Standards," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 164-192, January.
    13. Kochar, Anjini, 1995. "Explaining Household Vulnerability to Idiosyncratic Income Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 159-164, May.
    14. Beegle, Kathleen & Galasso, Emanuela & Goldberg, Jessica, 2017. "Direct and indirect effects of Malawi's public works program on food security," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-23.
    15. Victoria Hosegood & Anne Case & Cally Ardington, 2009. "Labor Supply Responses to Large Social Transfers: Longitudinal Evidence from South Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 22-48, January.
    16. Marshall Burke & Lauren Falcao Bergquist & Edward Miguel, 2019. "Sell Low and Buy High: Arbitrage and Local Price Effects in Kenyan Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 785-842.
    17. Posel, Dorrit & Fairburn, James A. & Lund, Frances, 2006. "Labour migration and households: A reconsideration of the effects of the social pension on labour supply in South Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 836-853, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Premand, Patrick & Schnitzer, Pascale, 2025. "Impacts and Spillovers of a Low-Cost Multifaceted Economic Inclusion Program in Chad," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11084, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bhorat, Haroon & Köhler, Timothy, 2025. "The labour market effects of cash transfers to the unemployed: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Armando Barrientos & Daniele Malerba, 2020. "Social assistance and inclusive growth," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 33-53, July.
    3. Jules Gazeaud & Eric Mvukiyehe & Olivier Sterck, 2023. "Cash Transfers and Migration: Theory and Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 143-157, January.
    4. Günther Fink & B. Kelsey Jack & Felix Masiye, 2020. "Seasonal Liquidity, Rural Labor Markets, and Agricultural Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3351-3392, November.
    5. Karlan, Dean & Banerjee, Abhijit & Trachtman, Hannah & Udry, Christopher, 2020. "Does Poverty Change Labor Supply? Evidence from Multiple Income Effects and 115,579 Bags," CEPR Discussion Papers 14812, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Sonna Vikhil & K.S. Kavi Kumar, 2025. "Impact of Cash Transfer Program on Time-Use Patterns of Agricultural Households: Evidence from India," Working Papers 2025-287, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    7. Neryvia Pillay & Chloe Allison & Kathryn Bankart, 2024. "The longrun effects of cash transfers on labour market outcomes," Working Papers 11071, South African Reserve Bank.
    8. Zurab Abramishvili & Lasha Lanchava, 2015. "Education for the Poor," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp542, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    9. Unal Seven & Semih Tumen, 2020. "Agricultural Credits And Agricultural Productivity: Cross-Country Evidence," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(supp01), pages 161-183, December.
    10. Eric Ekobor-Ackah Mochiah & Robert Darko Osei & Isaac Osei Akoto, 2014. "The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Work Decisions in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-116, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Ambler, Kate & Godlonton, Susan, 2021. "Earned and unearned income: Experimental evidence on expenditures and labor supply in Malawi," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 33-44.
    12. Mahé, Clotilde, 2017. "Does publicly provided health care affect migration? Evidence from Mexico," MERIT Working Papers 2017-049, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Rafael P. Ribas, 2020. "Liquidity constraints, spillovers, and entrepreneurship: evidence from a cash transfer program," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1131-1158, December.
    14. Mochiah, Eric Ekobor-Ackah & Osei, Robert Darko & Osei Akoto, Isaac, 2014. "The impact of conditional cash transfer programmes on household work decisions in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 116, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. von Fintel, Dieter & Pienaar, Louw, 2016. "Small-Scale Farming and Food Security: The Enabling Role of Cash Transfers in South Africa's Former Homelands," IZA Discussion Papers 10377, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Guimbeau, Amanda & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Pensions and Depression: Gender-Disaggregated Evidence from the Elderly Poor in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17530, IZA Network @ LISER.
    17. Norbert Schady & Ariel Fiszbein & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Niall Keleher & Margaret Grosh & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597, April.
    18. Juliana Mesén Vargas, 2018. "Income Effect on Labor Outcomes for People Living in Poverty: the case of PROGRESA," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2018015, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    19. Ana P. Canedo, 2023. "The Unintended Effects of Social Pensions on Migration: Evidence from Rural Mexico," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-25, February.
    20. Emily Breza & Cynthia Kinnan, 2021. "Measuring the Equilibrium Impacts of Credit: Evidence from the Indian Microfinance Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1447-1497.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2018-11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Greg Phelan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edwilus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.