We are pleased to announce that the article "Rural Underemployment and Urbanization: Insights from a 9-year Panel from Malawi," authored by Hanne Van Cappellen and Joachim De Weerdt has been published in the Journal of African Economies.
Abstract: Rural labour markets in Africa are frequently characterized by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labour. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1,407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanization. Nearby urban growth is linked to increased hours worked in casual labour (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm. Improved urban access is also associated with a small increase in wage labour and, at the intensive margin, with hours supplied in household enterprises. We draw lessons from these results for policies, investments and interventions to leverage urban growth for rural development.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae004
Read and download the full article here.
