Ramadan school holidays as a natural experiment : impacts of seasonality on school dropout in Bangladesh

In 2000, Ramadan school vacation coincided with the original annual exam period of December in Bangladesh. This forced schools to pre-pone their final exam schedules in November, which was the month before the harvest begins. 'Ramadan 2000' is a natural experiment that reduced the labor demand for children during the exam period. Using household level panel data of 2000 and 2003, and after controlling for various unobservable variations including individual fixed effects, aggregate year effects, and subdistrict-level year effects, this paper finds evidence of statistically significant impact of seasonal labor demand on school dropout in Bangladesh among the children from agricultural households.Bangladesh, Child labor, Schools, Labor market, Drop out, Seasonal labor demand, School calendar

SEASONAL LABOR CONSTRAINTS AND INTRA-HOUSEHOLD DYNAMICS IN THE FEMALE FIELDS OF SOUTHERN CAMEROON

Women's agricultural production is modeled as a sequential switching regression process determined by men's clearing labor capacity and women's harvest labor capacity. Results show that output was more often constrained by husband's clearing labor. However, men's economic contribution to household consumption is inversely related to women's agricultural output.agriculture, seasonal labor, gender, production, developing countries, Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, Labor and Human Capital,

Impact of Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes on Seasonal Labor Markets: Optimum Compensation and Workers' Welfare

The recent enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India has been widely hailed a policy that provides a safety net for the rural poor with the potential to boost rural income, stabilize agricultural production and reduce rural-urban migration. This paper, models the impact of such employment guarantee schemes in the context of an agrarian economy characterized by lean season involuntary unemployment as a consequence of tied-labor contracts. Specifically, we examine labor and output market responses to a productive rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and determine the optimal compensation to public work employees consistent with the objectives of (i) productive efficiency in agriculture and (ii) welfare maximization of the laborers. Our framework provides a theoretical framework for the evaluation of a number of (sometimes) conflicting observations and empirical results on the impact of an EGS on agricultural wages, employment and output, and underscores the importance of the relative productivity of workers in the EGS program vis-à-vis their counterparts engaged in agricultural production in determining the success of these programs.labor contracts, rural unemployment, employment guarantee schemes, public input, optimal wage

A Return of the Threshing Ring? Motivations, Benefits and Challenges of Machinery and Labor Sharing Arrangements

Cooperative approaches provide an alternative for small- and medium-sized producers to obtain the efficiencies of large farming operations and remain competitive in an increasingly concentrated agricultural industry. This article examines the motivation and effectiveness of equipment and labor sharing arrangements in the Midwestern US. Case study evidence shows that in addition to cost savings, access to skilled, seasonal labor is an important motivation for farm-level cooperation. Key factors identified for successful cooperative agreements include compatibility of operations and members' willingness to communicate and adapt. Sharing resources is found to improve farm profitability, efficiency and farmers' quality of life.machinery sharing; skilled farm labor; productivity; farm-level cooperations

FARM LABOR TRENDS AND MANAGEMENT IN WASHINGTON STATE

The Washington State farm labor market is a pivotal point in the western migrant stream. Farm employers argue that the seasonal labor market has tightened as a result of changes in immigration policy and economic conditions, even as they increase acreage of labor-intensive crops and the demand for labor. Yet, one could argue that a sufficient labor supply is available if workers are offered competitive wages and sufficient hours. To address some of these questions and issues, this study explores whether employer-specific factors (commodity, region, size, and management practices) influence worker turnover and the ability of employers to attract return workers.farm labor, Washington agriculture, worker turnover, Labor and Human Capital,

A COMPARISON OF OBJECTIVE FUNCTION STRUCTURES USED IN A RECURSIVE GOAL PROGRAMMING-SIMULATIONS MODEL OF FARM GROWTH

Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Irrigation water pricing between governmental policies and farmers’ perception: Implications for green-houses horticultural production in Teboulba (Tunisia)

A positive mathematical programming model was constructed in this study to assess the effect of three water pricing scenarios on Teboulba’s agricultural production systems. The effects of these scenarios were estimated for three groups of farmers from three irrigated districts. Results show that water demand in group 1 remains inelastic until achieving the price of 0.20 TD. A price above this level decreases water consumption, farmer’s incomes as well as seasonal labor demand. For groups 2 and 3, the water demand curves remain highly inelastic even with a full cost recovery price. However, once reaching this last price, the model shows important income reductions reaching 20% of the current observed income. Moreover, a pricing policy aiming to recover operational and maintenance costs and which will be implemented independently from other economic, social and environmental measures can threaten the sustainability of the production systems in the region.Water pricing, positive mathematical programming, greenhouses, economic impact, Teboulba, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q18,