Rainfall, Human Capital and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Rural South Africa

Kritika Sen Chakraborty and Kira M. Villa

Working Papers from African Economic Research Consortium

Abstract: Rural households rely on several strategies to cope with weather variability, including school-work transitions of adolescents and changes in human capital investments. Using rich longitudinal data from rural South Africa linked with geospatial data on climate indicators, we examined the effect of rainfall realizations on the schooling and work decisions and education expenditures of adolescents and young adults. We exploited the exogenous within-individual variation in exposure to district-level rainfall realizations over age. Our results suggest that current and lagged growing season rainfall increases adolescent human capital investments on the intensive margin among both female and male adolescents. While current rainfall decreased labour market participation among adolescents in non-agricultural households, current rainfall increased female labour supply in agricultural households. We also found that previous-period rainfall positively affected work propensity among all male adolescents. Our results documented schooling and labour supply adjustments among adolescents in agricultural and non-agricultural households, in response to rainfall fluctuations.

Date: 2024-08-22
Note: African Economic Research Consortium
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