On the Intersectoral Migration of Agricultural Labor

Bibliographic Data

ID5074742
AuthorsDonald F Larson (0000-0002-1318-3243), Donald Larson, Yair Mundlak
Year1997
Volume45
Issue2
Pages295-319
Publication date1997-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Development and Cultural Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0079 • E-ISSN: 1539-2988
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/452275
OpenAlexW2089621289
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited5

Labor is the single most important factor in determining national income. As economies grow, agricultural labor declines as a share of total labor and converges to a level of 2 or 3 percent. Off-farm migration facilitates the development of nonagriculture, but historically the process spans decades. The authors argue that the pace of the process is a fundamental outcome of a dynamic equilibrium based on expectations of lifetime earnings and the cost of migration. The authors present an empirical model of the determinants of intersectoral migration. One fundamental determinant is income differences across sectors. As such, migration should stop when income differences reach a certain level. The authors provide a method of measuring the level at which intersectoral migration will cease. While there are credible reasons for a permanent difference to exist between sectoral incomes, the authors find no empirical evidence of a permanent wedge

Agriculture · Economic geography · Economics · Geography · Labour economics · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis

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