Does the nonfarm economy offer pathways for upward mobility? Evidence from a panel data study in Ethiopia

Sosina Bezu (), Christopher Barrett and Stein T. Holden

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Empirical studies across many developing countries routinely document a positive correlation between participation in rural nonfarm employment and households’ wealth or income. This paper explores whether nonfarm employment leads to higher consumption expenditure growth in Ethiopia. We find that: 1) households’ consumption expenditure growth is positively correlated with the initial share of nonfarm income; 2) the growth elasticity of nonfarm income share is higher for wealthier households; and 3) the main source of growth for nonfarm participants comes from the higher rates of return participants enjoy on their human and physical capital.

Keywords: rural nonfarm; income dynamics; income diversification; Africa; Ethiopia; impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010, Revised 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/35754/1/MPRA_paper_35754.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Does the Nonfarm Economy Offer Pathways for Upward Mobility? Evidence from a Panel Data Study in Ethiopia (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:35754

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().