A key prediction of dynamic labor demand models is that firing restrictions attenuate firms' employment responses to economic fluctuations. We provide the first direct test of this prediction using data from India. We exploit the fact that rainfall fluctuations, through their effects on agricultural productivity, generate variation in local demand within districts over time. Consistent with the...

By focusing on human capital investment, the Mexican Oportunidades program will influence the economic choices of the rural poor. To understand how beneficiaries may alter their behaviour as a result of this intervention, this paper uses administrative data to analyze the economic activities of the Mexican rural poor. Results indicate that investments in education are likely to shift recipients...

The share of contingent employment has increased significantly in the last two decades. Not much is known about the impact of this shift on disparities in access to health insurance and other benefits. I examined disparities in access to any type of health insurance, employersponsored health insurance and workers’ compensation (WC) benefits between contingent and non-contingent workers in U.S. ...

The last three decades offer much evidence of greater access to new avenues of employment with globalisation and rapid economic development in Southeast Asia including Thailand. Associated with this pattern is a trend towards employment related migration out of rural areas. In this paper, we look at the implications of globalisation from a rural perspective by examining the direct impact on emp...

Using an agent-based model, we simulate the climate-induced agricultural labor migration for alternative future climate scenarios. For each agent, the probability of migration is calculated as a function of a set of relevant factors using a logistic regression model. Historical U.S. agricultural employment data was used to calibrate the model. The simulation result showed that larger crop yield...

This paper emphasizes the benefits of an agricultural strategy of development in developing countries. It begins by analyzing the close links between food and employment in the development process. In an underdeveloped country, food production is minimal, but demand is as well because of the small population growth. After development begins, income rises and food demand outstrips production....

THE struggle of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to conclude the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations brought again to the forefront the important role that agricultural policy continues to play in international trade relations. The sector is subject to heavy-handed governmental interventions throughout the world. Despite decades (even centuries) of economists’ arguments against agri...

There are five key interrelated dimensions of the agricultural water/poverty reduction relationship: production, income/consumption, employment, vulnerability/food security, and overall welfare. In general, irrigation access allows poor people to increase their production and incomes and enhances income diversification opportunities, reducing vulnerability caused by seasonality and other factor...

This article joins the debate over the effect of market-driven economic development on women’s work opportunities and household gender inequalities. It assesses women’s opportunities for off-farm employment, the relative contributions of female off-farm workers to household income, and the distribution of power in families whose male members have left for off-farm jobs, leaving women behind in ...