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1 – 10 of 10Ayuba Seidu, Gulcan Onel and Charles B. Moss
A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending…
Abstract
Purpose
A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at the origin countries. This study examines the impact of remittance inflows on out-farm migration of farm labor toward the nonfarm sector. Specifically, this study shows how international migrant remittances may alter the predictions of out-farm migration models by Harris–Todaro.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use unbalanced panel time-series data on 77 developing countries between 1991 and 2010 within a dynamic panel time-series framework to estimate the impact of remittances on the out-farm migration rate.
Findings
The authors find two competing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor in developing countries. First, remittances decelerate the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in nonfarm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, on average, our elasticity estimates indicate that a 10% increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture, on average, by 0.5% in developing countries over time.
Research limitations/implications
The authors findings align with the “developmentalist” or “optimistic” views of international migration. International migration, through remittances, help make the inevitable transition out of the farm sector smoother for developing countries.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to extend the empirical literature on macro-level determinants of out-farm migration within the Harris–Todaro framework to explicitly account for the impacts of remittances inflows into developing countries that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) theory hypothesizes.
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This paper explores the rural labor market impact of migration in China using cross-sectional data on rural households for the year 2007. A switching probit model is used to…
Abstract
This paper explores the rural labor market impact of migration in China using cross-sectional data on rural households for the year 2007. A switching probit model is used to estimate the impact of belonging to a migrant-sending household on the individual occupational choice categorized in four binary decisions: farm work, wage work, self-employment, and housework. The paper then goes on to estimate how the impact of migration differs across different types of migrant households identified along two additional lines: remittances and migration history. Results show that individual occupational choice in rural China is responsive to migration, at both the individual and the family levels, but the impacts differ: individual migration experience favors subsequent local off-farm work, whereas at the family level, migration drives the left-behinds to farming rather than to off-farm activities. Our results also point to the interplay of various channels through which migration influences rural employment patterns.
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Weiliang Su, Tor Eriksson and Linxiu Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm employment on the concentration of farmland via households’ land rental activities in rural China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm employment on the concentration of farmland via households’ land rental activities in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses Probit and Tobit models to estimate the effect of off-farm employment on land rental activities. Furthermore, the paper compares the degree of land concentration between pre-renting and post-renting in terms of Gini coefficients of farmland ownership at village level.
Findings
The authors find that off-farm employment has a positive effect on the renting out farmland, and insignificant effect on renting in farmland. Moreover, off-farm employment intensifies the concentration of farmland from small farms toward big farms by renting activities.
Originality/value
The authors believe that the results will contribute positively to the assessment of the effect of off-farm employment on land concentration in the context of the urbanization process in China.
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Eladio Arnalte-Alegre and Dionisio Ortiz-Miranda
This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to…
Abstract
This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to provide a backdrop for the rest of cases analysed in the volume. In this regard, two thesis are discussed: the assumption that farming systems in the South have not followed the process of ‘productivist modernisation’ characterising post-war Northern European agricultural change, and that, precisely due to this reason, most holdings and regions from the South would have more possibilities to adapt to new approaches of multifunctional rural development.Thus, the chapter tackles both the static and dynamic structural traits of Southern agricultures and their differences with the North, as well as several aspects of the organisation of farming in the Mediterranean and other key components of productivist modernisation: farm intensification and specialisation. Later, the diffusion of multifunctional dynamics is addressed, in order to introduce some reflections about their meaning and scope in the Mediterranean regions. The chapter ends with a straightforward typology of Southern farming systems and a concluding section, which goes back to discuss the two initial theses.
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Scientists are constructing knowledge about global warming by adapting evidence-based disciplines to reflect the Precautionary Principle. It is equally important to communicate…
Abstract
Scientists are constructing knowledge about global warming by adapting evidence-based disciplines to reflect the Precautionary Principle. It is equally important to communicate the complexities and uncertainties underpinning global warming because inappropriate vehicles for giving accounts could result in defensive decisions that perpetuate the business-as-usual mindset: the method of communication affects how the risk associated with global warming is socialised. Appropriately constructed accounts should facilitate reflective communicative action. Here Beck's theorisation of risk society, Luhmann's sociological theory of risk and Gandhi's vehicle of communicative action (or satyagraha) are used to construct a risk-based accountability mechanism, whilst providing insight into Schumacher's concept of total accountability. These accountability constructs will be illustrated through the lived experiences of South Australian citrus horticulturists in the context of a richly layered narrative of competing discourses about global warming. The reiterative process of theory informing practice is used to construct a couple of dialogical vehicles of accountability.
Paul A. Herbig and James E. Golden
Examines the cultural and structural changes in both California andMassachusetts over the last 40 years to explain those factors whichcaused these innovative hot spots to glow…
Abstract
Examines the cultural and structural changes in both California and Massachusetts over the last 40 years to explain those factors which caused these innovative hot spots to glow brightly and then cool. Examines innovative hot spots and their similarities and differences from the rest of the country as an explanation to understand better the innovation phenomena. Makes recommendations concerning other areas and preconditions to create or maintain innovative hot spots.
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Aurelian Mbzibain, Graham Tate and Ali Shaukat
The purpose of this paper is to examine how national institutional structures affect farmers’ intentions to invest in renewable energy enterprises in the UK agricultural sector…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how national institutional structures affect farmers’ intentions to invest in renewable energy enterprises in the UK agricultural sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on the construct of national institutional profile to identify the regulatory, cognitive and normative institutions affecting entrepreneurial intentions. A postal questionnaire survey of 2,000 farmers was carried out in the West Midlands Region of the UK and 393 usable responses were obtained. Principal component analysis and multivariate data analysis techniques are employed.
Findings
Cognitive institutions were positively related to intentions. Contrary to expectations, the regulatory institutions were not associated with entrepreneurial intentions. Normative institutions were significantly related to intentions and interestingly, moderated the efficacy of regulatory institutions on entrepreneurial intentions.
Practical implications
Cognitive and normative institutions may play a far more important role in determining farm entrepreneurship in the renewable energy sector than has been previously considered. Given that much of policy research is often biased towards regulatory institutions, this research shows that the construct of institutional profile offers a useful framework to investigate the effect of national level institutions on entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship in the UK farm sector. It is the first study that demonstrates the role of the country’s institutional profile on farmers’ intentions to invest in RE. The existence of moderation effects between national institutions suggests that research focusing on single dimensions is likely to provide biased results.
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Xu He and Takeshi Sakurai
Total farmland value exceeds its value in agriculture but is not directly perceptible to villagers in China. Thus, the exceeded part is often neglected when discussing farmer’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Total farmland value exceeds its value in agriculture but is not directly perceptible to villagers in China. Thus, the exceeded part is often neglected when discussing farmer’s land transaction decision. This study aims to revisit the question about how land titling project affects farmer’s land renting-out and investigate how this unobservable land value would distort the intentional effects of land titling.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first modifies a two-period model by incorporating the unobservable part of land value into the farmers’ leasing decision problem. Following the implications from the theoretical analysis, this study then exploits the difference-in-differences and the triple-differences approach to confirm the distorting effects that are resulted from the unobservable land value.
Findings
The modified theoretical model of this study reveals that land titling would encourage farmers to rent out land when the unobservable land value is predicted to be low but discourage farmers’ willingness to rent-out when this value is predicted to be high. The core reason for this significant conclusion lands in the uncertainty of the unobservable land value. Empirical analysis then provided two evidences for this presumption. Furthermore, this study also gave a disproof of the argument that the uncovered discouraging effect is due to a stronger endowment effect.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by highlighting the unobservable land value in the farmers’ land-related decisions. This part of land value is always neglected in previous discussions about the land tenure system, but it would cause distorting effects especially in regions without private land ownership.
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