From Saddles to Harrows: Agricultural Technology Adoption during the Russian Colonization in Kazakhstan

Elena Shubina () and Sabine Henry ()
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Elena Shubina: Department of Geography, University of NamurAuthor-Name: Gani Aldashev
Sabine Henry: Department of Geography, University of Namur

No 1407, Working Papers from University of Namur, Department of Economics

Abstract: Technology adoption in agriculture is one of the key factors of change in rural areas of developing countries. Large-scale in-migration by groups using a more advanced production technology often triggers such change in autochthone populations. We analyse the determinants of adoption of new agricultural technology by nomadic pastoralists using unique micro-level data from a historical episode of massive Russian peasant in-migration into Kazakhstan at the turn of the 20th century. We find that distance to Russian settlers is a key determinant of technology adoption, even after controlling for socio-economic and environmental characteristics. This effect is stronger for wealthier and less mobile Kazakh families with pasture land more suitable for agriculture. The adoption of new technology follows a heterogeneous pattern within the autochthone population, with important implications for the evolution of inequality.

Keywords: technology adoption; nomadic pastoralism; migration; Kazakhstan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N5 O13 O33 Q15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2014-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cis, nep-cwa, nep-gro and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nam:wpaper:1407

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