Labor Allocation Research Articles

Labor Use Dynamics from Family Coffee Farms of Zona Da Mata–Region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Labour is an important factor for the viability of coffee farming and other family-owned agricultural activities in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Labour shortages reflect on decision-making and the logic of agricultural management, which influences regional agricultural diversity. The objective of this work was to identify the dynamics of the labour adopted by family farmers, as well as to analyze the panorama of labour use of pluriactivity that favours agrobiodiversity. For data collection, it was applied a semi-structured interview script and visited all properties studied. The methodologies of the activity matrix and labour allocation in 25 properties were applied. The labour allocation matrices provided information and structural scenario of labour distribution for the main activities (coffee, maize, livestock, and horticulture) that occur in the properties throughout the year. The results indicate that coffee crops demand more labour from April to July, according to the harvesting and drying of fruits. Maize cultivation requires more labour from October to December, time of tillage, planting, and initial crop treatment. Activities such as livestock and vegetable production tend to require less labour; however, such demands are more constant throughout the year. Assuming that the dynamics of labour allocation follow a seasonal pattern of activities and tasks, farmers can maintain high diversification through the availability of family labour across different agricultural systems.

Does Land Certification Stimulate Farmers’ Entrepreneurial Enthusiasm? Evidence from Rural China

Deepening the reform of rural land property rights and fully releasing the dividends of land policies to stimulate the vitality of rural development are important foundations for China’s Poverty Alleviation and Rural Revitalization strategies. Based on the data of the China Household Finance Surveys in 2013 and 2019, this study takes the new round of land certification launched in 2013 as the starting point for exploring the impact of rural land property rights reform on farmers’ entrepreneurship, using the difference-in-differences model. The results show that the implementation of the new round of land certification has significantly improved the development of agricultural entrepreneurship among farmers with certificates but has had no impact on non-agricultural entrepreneurship. The estimated results from the replacement explained variables, PSM-DID method, and placebo test verifies the robustness of the baseline results. Furthermore, it is shown that the improvement of labor allocation, land transfer, and financing and loan constraints are the main channels through which land certification affects farmers’ entrepreneurship; the impact is heterogeneous at province, community, and household levels. This study not only provides new evidence for using rural land property rights reform to spearhead poverty alleviation and rural revitalization strategies but also provides beneficial reference material for the continuous optimization of land property rights certificates to boost farmers’ entrepreneurship.

Environment-dependent benefits of interindividual variation in honey bee recruitment

Interindividual differences in behaviour within the members of a social group can affect the group's productivity. In eusocial insects, individual differences between workers in a colony play a central role in division of labour and task allocation. Extensive empirical and theoretical work has highlighted variation in response thresholds as a proximate mechanism underlying individual behavioural differences and hence division of labour. However, other response parameters, like response probability and intensity, can also affect these differences. In this study, we first extended a previously published agent-based model on honey bee, Apis mellifera , foraging to understand the relative importance of response (dance) probability and response (dance) intensity in the task of recruitment. Comparing variation obtained from the simulations with previously published empirical data, we found that response intensity played a more important role than probability in producing consistent interindividual differences in recruitment behaviour. We then explored the benefits provided by this individual variation in recruitment behaviour to the colony's collective foraging effort under different environmental conditions. We found that individual variation led to a greater energy yield per forager, but only when food was abundant. Our study highlights the need to consider all response parameters while studying division of labour and adds to the growing body of evidence linking individual variation in behavioural responses to the success of social groups. • A. mellifera foragers show consistent individual differences in recruitment. • Agent-based models were used to explore the role of these differences in the colony. • Empirical findings were reproduced by including response probability and intensity. • Individual variation reduced total recruitment and slightly increased energy yield. • Studies on division of labour should include thresholds, probability, and intensity.

What contribution of agroecology to job creation in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of horticulture in the Niayes, Senegal

ABSTRACT In the context of Sub-Saharan Africa’s demographic boom, the issue of youth employment has become a major concern. Many debates are ongoing regarding agriculture’s role in the structural transformation process and providing jobs. In this regard, we explore the opportunity of an agroecological intensification of family farming. We analyze data from agricultural households in the Niayes area of Senegal collected in 2019 and use a clustering method to group farms and rank them according to agroecological practices. Diversity and livestock integration are the most differentiating factors across the identified farming systems. Considering labor allocation complexity within family farms, we compare employment indicators between farming systems to look for agroecology’s effect on agricultural work. We observe diversity in the intensity of labor requirements across the different systems but no overall increase for the most agroecological. However, women working hours appear significantly increased for two groups suggesting a substitution with wage workers for the most agroecological systems.

Women's empowerment and intra-household gender dynamics and practices around sheep and goat production in South East Kenya.

Small ruminant production facets like decision-making, ownership, labour allocation, access to- and control over assets are gendered. This study investigates intra-household gender dynamics and practices around sheep and goat production among smallholder farmers in South East region of Kenya. A quantitative study was conducted on 358 dual-headed (married) households to generate gender-disaggregated data on ownership, decision-making and labour allocation around small ruminant production. Qualitative data was collected through focused group discussions to bring out the community perspectives. From the findings, the average number of small ruminants owned by the households as reported by men was slightly higher than women. The average number of small ruminants solely owned by men was significantly higher than by women. Men reported a relatively higher number of jointly owned small ruminants compared to women. More women than men reported that they could give as a gift, sell-off and slaughter jointly owned small ruminants without consulting their spouses. Small ruminants were considered the most important livestock asset in supporting a household’s livelihood by relatively more women than men. Men had more decision-making autonomy over jointly owned small ruminants compared to women. Production tasks around small ruminants such as feeding, watering, selling milk and cleaning housing structures were mostly performed by the women. Qualitative data identified men as the de facto owners of small ruminants with a higher power position in making the important production decisions. The study offers three implications on the design of livestock interventions to empower women, the interventions should ensure that; 1) women are not just owners of livestock assets but also share power and decision-making rights in all aspects of production, 2) production labour is shared equitably between men and women and, 3) women access benefits from livestock production even when animals are owned by men.

Spatial and Temporal Variability of Rail Transit Costs and Cost Effectiveness

Previous research has evaluated the temporal variability of transit costs and shown that peak period service costs more to operate in both gross and net terms. However, research on spatial variability of transit costs, particulalry for modes other than bus transit, is quite limited. Using transit agency data on labor and train allocations in the United States, I develop an accounting cost model that allocates variable and semi-fixed capital costs to times of day and each link and station of two regional rapid rail transit networks—the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)—to evaluate temporal and spatial variability of costs and average costs per rider. I find that costs per hour are highest, but average costs per rider are lowest, during weekday peak periods in both systems, and that costs are highest and costs per rider are lowest in the urban core area of the BART system, while there is no clear spatial pattern in the MARTA system.

Towards sustainable development in China: How do green technology innovation and resource misallocation affect carbon emission performance?

Green technology innovation is an effective way through which to achieve carbon neutrality and sustainable development. Based on provincial panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2018, this work examines the tripartite relationship among green technology innovation, resource misallocation, and carbon emission performance by constructing panel regression models and a dynamic threshold panel model. The research results show that green technology innovation significantly improves carbon emission performance. Further analysis shows that both capital and labour misallocation have a negative impact on carbon emission performance and hinder the contribution of green technology innovation to the improvement of carbon emission performance. The regression results show that there is a threshold effect of green technology innovation on carbon emission performance: as the degree of resource misallocation increases, the positive impact of green technology innovation on carbon emission performance gradually decreases. This study provides an important reference for policy-makers in implementing policies to improve carbon emission performance. Policy-makers should continue to promote the level of green technology innovation and improve the efficiency of labour and capital allocation.

Micro input factors affecting industrial energy efficiency in Hebei Province based on granger causal relation test model

Reasonably allocating the micro factor investment in the industry and trying to improve the energy efficiency are very important for the green development of industrial economy in Hebei Province, so as to the achievement of its double carbon target. This paper takes industrial energy consumption, assets and labor in Hebei Province as micro-input elements. Based on the panel data of 34 industrial industries in Hebei Province from 2005 to 2016, we identify the correlation of micro-input factors in different industries and conduct Granger causality test. The study shows that: (1) About half of the industry’s combined energy consumption is correlated with the number of employees and assets; About two-thirds of the industry’s asset workers are relevant; (2) There is a two-way causal relationship between the total energy consumption and assets of most industries and the annual average number of employees. (3) The rational allocation of capital, labor and energy consumption depends on the deepening reform of the factor market. The high energy consumption industry should actively improve and innovate the energy technology in this process to realize the coordinated promotion of energy saving and carbon reduction, and thus to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry steadily.

Impact of Labor Migration on Chemical Fertilizer Application of Citrus Growers: Empirical Evidence from China

Due to the growing trend of rural labor migration, farmers’ labor allocation under the condition of constant time endowment has gradually become a key factor in the transformation of green agricultural production methods. Using the propensity score matching method, this paper verified the influence of labor migration on citrus growers’ fertilizer application using 814 survey data from Sichuan Province, China. The study found that the boosting effect of capacity accumulation brought on by farmers’ labor migration was greater than the weakening effect of labor constraints and that the average chemical fertilizer application per acre decreased from 6.95 to 6.74 after farmers’ labor migration, a 3.06 percent decrease. Second, labor migration reduces chemical fertilizer application by allowing farmers to acquire knowledge and technology for green agricultural production and to increase off-farm income. Third, the choice of labor migration by farmers with higher agricultural incomes and younger ages promotes a reduction in their chemical fertilizer application. Therefore, this paper makes the following suggestions: the government should appropriately guide farmers in their labor migration decisions, increase public awareness of green agricultural knowledge and technology, and encourage farmers to to invest their off-farm income in green production. Farmers with higher agricultural income and younger ages, in particular, should be encouraged to choose labor migration and train to become new agricultural business entities.

Does industrial intelligence improve resource misallocation? An empirical test based on China.

Resource misallocation has become a new threat to China's high-quality economic development, and industrial intelligence may play an important role in optimizing resource allocation. Using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2020, the relationship between industrial intelligence and resource misallocation is studied using the spatial Durbin (SDM) model. To further explore the indirect effect of environmental pollution on resource misallocation, the interaction term between industrial intelligence and environmental pollution is added to test how environmental pollution affects the relationship between industrial intelligence and resource. The research results show that industrial intelligence in China has significant spatial correlation. Local industrial intelligence can improve the local resource allocation, but the intelligence of neighboring industries will intensify the resource misallocation in the region. The interaction between environmental pollution and industrial intelligence also further affects resource allocation, and the interaction term can intensify local capital allocation to improve local labor allocation, and the interaction term in the surrounding area will also improve capital and labor misallocation in the region. Heterogeneous results find that industrial intelligence exacerbates resource misallocation in regions with insufficient capital allocation, and the mediating effect of environmental pollution is not significant. However, in places with excess capital allocation, the development of industrial intelligence helps improve resource misallocation, while the mediating effect of environmental pollution is also present, and industrial intelligence can improve resource misallocation through the indirect effect of improving environmental pollution. Therefore, the policies of local industrial development policies need to fully consider the resource allocation situation in the region. At the same time, it needs to smooth the capital circulation mechanism, reduce the cost of capital allocation, establish a sound employment mechanism, and improve labor misallocation.

Spatiotemporal Pattern Differentiation and Influencing Factors of Cultivated Land Use Efficiency in Hubei Province under Carbon Emission Constraints

The rapid conversion of cultivated land resources has posed a severe danger to national food security, where the primary concerns are the quantity as well as the quality of the land being cultivated. Cultivated land use efficiency (CLUE) reflects the rational allocation and utilization level of cultivated land, labor, capital, and other factors so as to maximize output and minimize cost. In this study, carbon emissions were included as an unexpected output into the measurement framework of CLUE. The super SBM undesirable model, Spatial analysis model, and Tobit model were comprehensively used to measure the difference pattern and influencing factors of CLUE in 72 counties of Hubei Province from 2005 to 2020. The results show the following: the CLUE in Hubei Province showed significant regional differences and temporal variation characteristics. During the observation period of 2005 to 2020, the overall CLUE in Hubei Province increased, reaching 0.7475 by 2020, but was still at a low level (less than 1). Due to the limitation of topographic factors, this does not show obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics on the whole. In general, the CLUE value formed after considering the carbon emission index in most counties decreased by different ranges compared to the value formed without considering the carbon emission index. From the perspective of transverse terrain comparison, the measured results of the super SBM undesirable model showed that the cultivated land utilization efficiency of the mountain and hill was higher than that of the plain. From the vertical time comparison, the CLUE of different regions showed an upward trend, indicating obvious regional differences in the study period. The results of the Tobit model show that farmers’ income level can actively promote the improvement of CLUE in Hubei Province. Urbanization level, rural power consumption, per capita cultivated land scale, and agricultural mechanization level have an impact on cultivated land use efficiency as a whole, but the impact has topographic heterogeneity. This study can provide theoretical and technical reference for the improvement of regional cultivated land efficiency and the formulation of cultivated land protection strategies and policies.

Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Model with Uninsurable Idiosyncratic Income Risk

AbstractWe study optimal fiscal policy in a standard incomplete-markets model with uninsurable idiosyncratic income risk, where a Ramsey planner chooses time-varying paths of proportional capital and labour income taxes, lump-sum transfers (or taxes), and government debt. We find that (1) short-run capital income taxes are effective in providing redistribution since the tax base is relatively unequal and inelastic; (2) an increasing pattern of labour income taxes over time mitigates intertemporal distortions from capital income taxes; (3) the optimal policy increases overall transfers, calibrated initially to the US welfare system, by roughly $50\%$; (4) two-thirds of the welfare gains come from redistribution and the remaining third come mostly from insurance; and (5) redistribution also leads to a more efficient allocation of labour via wealth effects on labour supply—lower productivity households can afford to work relatively less.

THE IMPACT OF BROILER FARMING BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP ON PRODUCTION COST AND INCOME IN METRO CITY

Partnership pattern was the pattern of managing broiler chicken business through cooperation with companies that offered many benefits so that most breeders were encouraged to established partnership patterns. But in the implementation of partnerships not always run in accordance with the agreement because there were some frauds committed by farmers and companies. The risk of frauds made some farmers chose to manage the broiler breed chicken business independently. The difference in implementation between partnership patterns and self-sustaining patterns can have a performance impact on broiler chicken breeders. This study aims to analyze the partnership patterns, analyze the partnership's driving factors and analyze the impact of partnerships on the production and income costs of broiler breed chicken farmers in Metro City. This study was conducted from October 12 to November 30, 2020 located in Metro City. The methods were used in this research were qualitative and quantitative combined methods. The data was collected through a survey by interviewing directly 59 respondents. The result of this research were The pattern of partnerships of broiler breed chicken farmers in Metro City was the plasma core pattern, 2) The driving factors of partnership in broiler chicken breeders were capital availability motivation, market guarantee motivation, price guarantee motivation and high income motivation, 3) Statistically the partnership pattern had an impact on income and labor allocation. The company could improve the services that were felt by farmer tobe lacking, such as the accuracy of providing production facillities and payment of harverts and could provide competitive sell prices to breeders partner.

Gendering the pandemic: the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown on female students’ household labor allocation in Morocco

As the Covid-19 spread across the world, it has affected the lives of people from all walks of life. While confined to home after the imposed lockdowns and closure of educational institutions, girls were called upon to perform family chores and assume caregiving roles. This may result in limited time and energy to continue their learning at a distance. Using survey data collected in April and May 2020 from a sample of Moroccan female first year university students, the present paper analyzes the effect of household labor allocation during home confinement on female students’ remote learning. Findings demonstrate how the immediate effects of covid-19 pandemic showed themselves in education with girls being left behind, and display how the crisis has widened gender inequalities and created new challenges in a society where gender-based discrimination and traditional social norms already exist. Understanding the gender-differentiated impacts of the Covid-19 crisis is necessary to design policy responses that reduce pre-existing social and educational vulnerabilities and ensure that the gender parity progress achieved in recent decades is not reversed.

Climate change and Indian agriculture: A systematic review of farmers’ perception, adaptation, and transformation

Climate change is adversely affecting the Indian agricultural sector. Farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation to the rapidly changing climatic conditions are considered crucial policy measures to combat these adversities. In this context, the present study systematically reviews the literature on farmers’ perception and adaptation in India, drawing mainly from Scopus and Web of Science. Results show that majority of the Indian farmers have perceived a rise in temperature, erratic and decreased rainfall which is consistent with the meteorological data. Indian farmers seem to have adopted a wide range of adaptation measures that are mostly incremental and systemic. Transformational adaptations in the form of substantial changes in land use, resource and labor allocations, occupational pattern, and cropping systems are also increasingly found to be adopted by farmers. However, the literature does not substantially confirm that farmers’ adaptation measures result from their perception of climate change. Lack of access to sufficient information and adequate credit at the right time, household income, farm size, gender, and resource endowment, among others, frequently influences the adoption of adaptation measures. To avoid maladaptive outcomes and achieve long-term sustainability, the study suggests a need for large-scale investments in the Indian farming sector in general and building farmers’ capacity in particular. In addition, adopting an integrated approach for assessing farmers’ perception of and adaptation to changing climatic conditions and their outcomes is essential for effective policymaking towards achieving food security and farmers’ wellbeing.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN LIVESTOCK DECISION MAKING IN AGRO- PASTORAL SYSTEMS IN KENYA A CRTICAL LITERARURE REVIEW

Purpose: Today, women represent half of the world's population and one third of the official labor force, but they receive only one percent of the total global income and own less than one percent of the world property. The primary objective of this research was to establish how changes in socio-economic factors affect the participation of women of different economic and educational statuses in livestock management and marketing, particularly in terms of their labor inputs and allocation of productive resources.
 Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps.
 Results: The concomitant assumption formulated for this objective was that even as women’s labor contribution to the household in the livestock industry has increased, there has not been a corresponding increase in their decision-making ability.
 Unique Contribution to Theory and Practice: The study recommends that any efforts aimed at empowering women in livestock decision-making should first of all improve women's status through increased education opportunities and participation in formal employment in order to give them independent incomes.

Divergent impacts of the grain to green program, landholdings, and demographic factors on livelihood diversification in rural China

China’s ambitious Grain to Green Program (GTGP) pays farmers to retire ecologically vulnerable cropland in pursuit of environmental recovery, with an added benefit of economic diversification. While there is compelling evidence that GTGP has promoted off-farm employment in a broad sense, little is known about what types of work participants take and whether these labor transfers will continue after payments expire. Studies also tend to focus on livelihood diversification through urban migration while ignoring the nuances of the local job market. Rooted in a “labor-increasing” versus “labor-decreasing” framework, this study finds divergent effects of GTGP across local employment sectors. While GTGP facilitates nonagricultural employment, it also acts as a possibly temporary replacement for agricultural jobs and does not significantly encourage entrepreneurship, which may hinder post-program retirement of cropland. Results also show cropland holdings, household size, gender, marital status, and especially education are influential predictors of labor allocation, suggesting the parcels most likely to remain retired long-term belong to male-headed households with fewer, better-educated members including unmarried young people. In addition, there is much space to improve GTGP’s income-diversifying effects by improving access to education and incorporating concrete supports and incentives for local off-farm employment and small-scale entrepreneurship.

Exporting Uncertainty: The Impact of Brexit on Corporate America

AbstractWe show that the 2016 Brexit Referendum had multifaceted consequences for corporate America, shaping employment, investment, divestitures, R&D, and savings. The unexpected vote outcome led U.S. firms to cut jobs and investment within U.S. borders. Using establishment-level data, we document that these effects were modulated by the reversibility of capital and labor. American-based job destruction was particularly pronounced in industries with less skilled and more unionized workers. U.K.-exposed firms with less redeployable capital and high input-offshoring dependence cut investment the most. Data on the near universe of U.S. establishments also point to measurable, negative effects on establishment turnover (openings and closings). Our results demonstrate how foreign-born political uncertainty is transmitted across international borders, shaping domestic capital formation and labor allocation.

Women farm what they can manage: How time constraints affect the quantity and quality of labor for married women's agricultural production in southwestern Nigeria.

Across sub-Saharan Africa smallholder farmers depend heavily on manual labor supplied by their households, families, and communities. Gender differences in the ability of farm managers to acquire needed labor has been linked with women's disadvantage in agricultural productivity. This in-depth qualitative research in southwestern Nigeria builds on studies that document gender gaps by examining how men and women make sense of the allocation of labor within their households. Insights from observation over the course of one year and interviews with 93 participants are combined with evidence from existing literature to develop a framework that illustrates the conceptual links between constraints on women's time use and the quantity and quality of labor available for their agricultural activities. We find that women's time and labor constraints are rooted in common social expectations that men's farm plots take priority and that a woman should only farm what she can manage without interfering with the agricultural production managed by her husband. Practically, this means that women's household responsibilities and off-farm work limit their own farm labor and their ability to supervise hired labor. The prioritization of men's plots also means that labor is allocated to men's plots first in the day, which results in less labor and potentially less productive labor available for women's farms. Also, women's access to labor is especially constrained by seasonal fluctuations in labor demand because of the precedence given to men's agricultural production. The conceptual framework is meant as a tool to be used in future research on time use, agricultural labor, and gender differences in agricultural productivity. It highlights the ways in which intrahousehold negotiations over labor and time use are not just about maximizing efficiency or productivity, but also about maintaining social hierarchies, roles, and responsibilities.

Agrarian change, livelihood dynamics and welfare outcomes: Evidence from plantation crop farmers in Indonesia

In the tropical belt of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, smallholder farming is undergoing a significant transformation from subsistence-oriented to highly specialized and market-oriented plantation systems. While understanding the transition of livelihoods of plantation farm households over time is an important development goal, available empirical evidence is scant. This study provides the first quantitative evidence on the dynamics, transitions, and determinants of livelihood strategies linked to the crop choices of commercial farm households in the tropics. We use three-wave panel data of oil palm and rubber farmers from Indonesia for the empirics. Particular emphasis is placed on the trade-offs smallholders face in growing these two crops. Employing the dynamic livelihood strategy framework and Latent Markov Model estimations, we reveal that even highly specialized farm households pursue diversified livelihood strategies, and they actively switch between the identified strategies. Over time, significant changes are observed in the composition of strategies, which continue to be dominated by oil palm-oriented and off-farm-based activities. Inter alia, climate anomalies and a decline in oil palm and rubber prices influence the dynamics and trajectories of the livelihood strategies. We also find that a larger farm size possibly hinders households' labor allocation to more remunerative off-farm activities, implying that possessing a larger farm-land alone may not suffice for improving farmers’ wellbeing. We conclude by discussing the generalizability of our findings and providing implications for future research and policymaking.