Youth Migration and Labour Constraints in African Agrarian Households

<p>Using panel data from Ethiopia and Malawi, we investigate how youth migration affects household labour, hired labour demand, and income, and whether these effects vary by migrant sex and destination. Labour shortages arise from the migration of a head’s child. However, the migration of the head’s sons produces a greater burden, particularly on female heads/spouses (in Ethiopia) and brothers (in Malawi). Gains from migration in the form of increased total net income justify the increased labour efforts in Ethiopia. Weaker evidence suggests households in Malawi substitute hired for migrant family labour at the expense of total household net income.</p

Scale and Sustainability: The Impact of a Women’s Self-Help Group Program on Household Economic Well-Being in India

Microfinance groups are a prominent source of small-scale rural credit in many developing countries. In India, evidence of the impact of the now ubiquitous women-only savings and credit self-help groups (SHGs) on household consumption and asset accumulation is inconclusive and based on small-scale interventions. Further, little is known about the sustainability of impacts at scale. We use panel data on close to 2500 households from five states in India to estimate the impact of SHG membership on household expenditure and asset ownership. Over four years, we find small but significant impacts of SHG membership on household expenditure and livestock ownership. Membership duration has a modest effect, suggesting that initial impacts may taper off as the program scales up, though small sample sizes limit our ability to draw inferences. Accompanying evidence on pathways is compelling; related work shows that SHG participation improves information, empowerment, and access to entitlements. While the direct impacts of SHG membership may not suffice to fill gaps in access to credit faced by the rural poor, impacts along these additional pathways could intensify the benefits of these groups.</p