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Agricultural production outsourcing services encourage a shift in the way crops are grown in developing countries and make it easier for small farmers to join the social division of labor in agriculture. This makes production more efficient and has a big effect on the inputs used in agriculture, especially fertilizer. This paper empirically tests the impact of production outsourcing on farmers' fertilizer intensity using the instrumental variables method with non-planar panel data from the 2020–2022 China Land Economy Survey (CLES) of farm plots. The results showed that there was a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of agricultural production outsourcing and the intensity of fertilization on farmers' plots. Mechanistic analysis shows that agricultural production outsourcing affects the fertilizer intensity by changing the labor allocation of farmers. Especially as the degree of agricultural production outsourcing increases, the intensity of farm labor inputs by farmers gradually decreases, and the impact of fertilizer intensity on the plots showed a tendency to be promoted first and then suppressed. The moderating effect showed that plot size was a major moderating factor. This means that the bigger the plot, the flatter the inverted U-shaped curve became, and the same level of outsourcing could lead to less fertilizer application. This happened by moving the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve to the left, which stopped the fertilizer application at a lower level of outsourcing. Heterogeneity analysis showed that participation in technology-intensive production outsourcing was beneficial in terms of reducing fertilizer intensity, and that an increased degree of agriculture production outsourcing was beneficial for farmers with large plot sizes and younger heads of household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production outsourcing services encourage a shift in the way crops are grown in developing countries and make it easier for small farmers to join the social division of labor in agriculture. This makes production more efficient and has a big effect on the inputs used in agriculture, especially fertilizer. This paper empirically tests the impact of production outsourcing on farmers’ fertilizer intensity using the instrumental variables method with non-planar panel data from the 2020–2022 China Land Economy Survey (CLES) of farm plots. The results showed that there was a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of agricultural production outsourcing and the intensity of fertilization on farmers’ plots. Mechanistic analysis shows that agricultural production outsourcing affects the fertilizer intensity by changing the labor allocation of farmers. Especially as the degree of agricultural production outsourcing increases, the intensity of farm labor inputs by farmers gradually decreases, and the impact of fertilizer intensity on the plots showed a tendency to be promoted first and then suppressed. The moderating effect showed that plot size was a major moderating factor. This means that the bigger the plot, the flatter the inverted U-shaped curve became, and the same level of outsourcing could lead to less fertilizer application. This happened by moving the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve to the left, which stopped the fertilizer application at a lower level of outsourcing. Heterogeneity analysis showed that participation in technology-intensive production outsourcing was beneficial in terms of reducing fertilizer intensity, and that an increased degree of agriculture production outsourcing was beneficial for farmers with large plot sizes and younger heads of household.

Carbon emission is the focus of global climate change concerns. Population aging changes the level of labor structure, which directly affects the industry adjustment and will also have a long-term impact on carbon emissions. Uncovering the complex association among population aging, labor allocation, and CO2 emission is crucial for developing effective policies for low-carbon and sustainable development in China. Therefore, this study aims to analyze whether population aging contributes to reducing carbon emission intensity by regulating labor allocation. Based on provincial panel data from 2000 to 2019, the Systematic Generalized Method of Moments (Systematic GMM) model and the Bias Corrected Least Squares Estimation with Nonsymmetric Dependence Structure (Bias Corrected LSDV) model are adopted in this study. The results show that nationwide as a whole, population aging objectively inhibits human capital accumulation and, to some extent, weakens its positive carbon emission reduction effect. Meanwhile, population aging helps to mitigate the increase in carbon emissions caused by the capital-labor endowment structure. Due to the dual impact of aging and population migration, the emission reduction effect of human capital accumulation is significant in the East. The brain drain in the central and western regions further inhibits the positive effect of regional human capital accumulation. Promoting the rationalization of population mobility nationwide, reducing the brain drain in less developed regions, and directing capital into technology-intensive industrial sectors are the core keys to achieving optimal labor allocation in an aging society. This will help China meet its carbon neutrality target on schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of modern bioenergy alternatives is promoted to address water–energy–food (WEF) security in the rural highlands of Ethiopia. While the role of women in WEF security is an essential component of these challenges, gender dimensions remain invisible in the nexus debate. This study explores the impact of gender-specific roles between female- and male-headed households on the nexus resources in the rural highlands of Ethiopia using an agent-based modeling approach. This includes capturing the gender-specific responses to modern bioenergy interventions to address current energy crises that may reduce or enhance synergies among nexus resources and whether the introduction of modern bioenergy technology would improve the quality of life for both men and women. Using the participatory gendered mental model of the food–energy–land nexus, a base ABM was developed to simulate the predicted effects under scenarios of population growth and labor reallocation. Initial simulation results show that there is low adoption of alternative bioenergy (i.e., biogas digesters), and the majority remain dependent on traditional energy sources (e.g., fuel wood and animal dung), suggesting further land degradation. Female-headed households that adopt biogas increase their burden of collecting water needed for the operation. Reallocation of labor from crop production to fuelwood collection would result in the reduction of crop yields. It is expected that male-headed households have better crop yields than female counterparts due to gender-specific roles. However, by shifting 10% of labor allocated from energy collection to crop production, yields (i.e., teff and wheat) produced by female-headed households would be comparable to their male counterparts, enhancing their food security. However, the reduced workloads for women resulting from the adoption of biogas digesters will not necessarily enhance their quality of life. This study suggests that trade-offs may arise between efficiency (in resource use) and social equity, which deserve to be further analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular construction offers benefits such as high quality, low cost, and short durations owing to the high productivity of repetitive production. To maximize productivity, modular construction involves repetitive schedules; however, the scheduling methods exhibit limitations when applied to on-site work. These methods are optimized by adjusting the production rate of activities; however, the bounds of the production rates of modular construction on-site work are limited because of workspace limitations in the units and varying amounts of work between activities. This results in idling time in the scheduling methods. Thus, in this research, the parallel station method (PSM) was employed to ensure a flexible production rate. A discrete event simulation model was developed and employed to estimate the number of workers and work duration. The results demonstrated the following: 1) The developed scheduling method exhibits better results than the method for stick-built construction. 2) When applying the PSM, the line-of-balance method is cost-effective, while the TACT method is time-effective, implying that scheduling methods should be selected based on the primary objectives of modular projects. The findings of this research will contribute toward improving the accuracy and applicability of repetitive scheduling methods and reduce the labor cost and duration of on-site work.

• Access to affordable mobile phones continues to be a policy focus, yet understanding of its impacts on the environment is limited. • We focus on rural households in Uganda (2009–2013) and find that mobile phone ownership is linked to increased deforestation. • A 1% increase in the share of households owning a mobile phone was associated with a 1.2% increase in deforestation within a 5-kilometer radius. • Households whose main source of income is not agricultural production may be driving the increased deforestation with more crop cultivation area (45%). • Our deforestation results are equivalent to 16,000 tons of lost carbon storage over two years, valued between $3 and $11 million. Increased access to information technology changes economic opportunities and may indirectly lead to changes in rural households' land use and the local natural environment. With the expansion of service coverage and decreasing cost of mobile phone service plans, particularly in Africa, it is critical to understand the implications of the rapid uptake of mobile phones on the environment. In this paper, we estimate the relationship between mobile phone adoption and deforestation in rural areas of Uganda over the 2009 to 2013 period. We exploit heterogeneity in household adoption of mobile phones using four rounds of the Uganda National Panel Survey (2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013). We find that a 1% increase in the share of households owning a mobile phone is associated with a 1.2% increase in deforestation within a 5-kilometer radius of these households. At the household level, those acquiring a mobile phone see an average of 8% increase in crop cultivation area, driven by households whose main source of income is not agricultural production. These results suggest that mobile phone adoption may lead to sizeable adverse impacts on the environment via an expansion of crop cultivation areas. The estimated increase in deforestation translates to approximately 16,000 tons of lost carbon storage over two years, valued between $3 and $11 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature has reached contradictory empirical conclusions regarding the tendency for generalist and specialist organizations to change their status quo. Some have posited that generalists are less likely to change than specialists, while others have posited the opposite. This article explores when generalists and specialists change their allocations of labor resources by delving into two different mechanisms: (1) how they perform (problem-driven mechanism) and (2) how much extra resources they possess (slack-driven mechanism). Based on empirical evidence collected in the agricultural industry in South Korea, we find that specialists are more likely to change in accordance with a problem-driven mechanism, whereas generalists are more prone to react to a slack-driven mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the impacts of agricultural land consolidation have mostly used the household plot number as a proxy. Instead, this study exploits the variation in household participation in plot exchange, a policy for consolidating cropland in Vietnam, to evaluate the impacts of land consolidation on household labor allocation and farmland productivity. Using data from the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS), we construct a panel household dataset from 2010 to 2016. This sample consists of 618 households in two provinces, Ha Tay and Nghe An, where plot exchange was implemented intensively in the period of study. We apply two-way fixed effects regression to mitigate the endogeneity in household participation in plot exchange. The results indicate that plot exchange halved the number of household plots dedicated to annual crop production. While the impact on land productivity was statistically insignificant, land consolidation via plot exchange dramatically reduced household labor allocated to crop production, especially rice production. Further analyses reveal that the labor effects may come from improved farm irrigation and increased machine rentals. • We exploit a plot exchange policy to evaluate the impacts of land consolidation. • We use panel data on 618 households from 2010 to 2016 in two provinces of Vietnam. • We apply two-way fixed effects regression to address endogeneity. • Land consolidation dramatically reduced the labor allocated to crop production. • The labor effects came from improved irrigation and increased machine rentals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of modern bioenergy alternatives is promoted to address water–energy–food (WEF) security in the rural highlands of Ethiopia. While the role of women in WEF security is an essential component of these challenges, gender dimensions remain invisible in the nexus debate. This study explores the impact of gender-specific roles between female- and male-headed households on the nexus resources in the rural highlands of Ethiopia using an agent-based modeling approach. This includes capturing the gender-specific responses to modern bioenergy interventions to address current energy crises that may reduce or enhance synergies among nexus resources and whether the introduction of modern bioenergy technology would improve the quality of life for both men and women. Using the participatory gendered mental model of the food–energy–land nexus, a base ABM was developed to simulate the predicted effects under scenarios of population growth and labor reallocation. Initial simulation results show that there is low adoption of alternative bioenergy (i.e., biogas digesters), and the majority remain dependent on traditional energy sources (e.g., fuel wood and animal dung), suggesting further land degradation. Female-headed households that adopt biogas increase their burden of collecting water needed for the operation. Reallocation of labor from crop production to fuelwood collection would result in the reduction of crop yields. It is expected that male-headed households have better crop yields than female counterparts due to gender-specific roles. However, by shifting 10% of labor allocated from energy collection to crop production, yields (i.e., teff and wheat) produced by female-headed households would be comparable to their male counterparts, enhancing their food security. However, the reduced workloads for women resulting from the adoption of biogas digesters will not necessarily enhance their quality of life. This study suggests that trade-offs may arise between efficiency (in resource use) and social equity, which deserve to be further analyzed.

We examine the effects of rainfall shocks on household work decisions in Brazil. We show that rural farming households increase labor supply in non‐agricultural sectors during drought episodes. An additional drought month per year is associated with greater likelihood of holding more than one job, lower share of agricultural employment, and more time spent performing a secondary job. Together, these findings suggest that households alter their labor decisions to mitigate the consequences of weather shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding household labor and land allocation decisions under agro-environmental policies is challenging due to complex human-environment interactions. Here, we developed a spatially explicit agent-based model based on spatial and socioeconomic data to simulate households' land and labor allocation decisions and investigated the impacts of two forest restoration and conservation programs and one agricultural subsidy program in rural China. Simulation outputs revealed that the forest restoration program accelerates labor out-migration and cropland shrink, while the forest conservation program promotes livelihood diversification via increasing non-farm employment. Meanwhile, the agricultural subsidy program keeps labor for cultivation on land parcels with good quality, but appears less effective for preventing marginal croplands from being abandoned. The policy effects on labor allocation substantially differ between rules based on bounded rational and empirical knowledge of defining household decisions, particularly on sending labor out-migrants and engaging in local off-farm jobs. Land use patterns showed that the extent to which households pursue economic benefits through shrinking cultivated land is generally greater under bounded rationality than empirical knowledge. Findings demonstrate nonlinear social-ecological impacts of the agro-environmental policies through time, which can deviate from expectations due to complex interplays between households and land. This study also suggests that the spatial agent-based model can represent adaptive decision-making and interactions of human agents and their interactions in dynamic social and physical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The productivity gap between East and West Germany is a long ongoing discussion among the public and policy makers. Regional disparities still appear to be substantial. In this paper, we shed light on the role of allocative efficiency as a region’s driver of productivity disparities. We show that over 50 percent of the East-West productivity gap is associated with a less efficient labor allocation in former East Germany. Controlling for the heterogeneity among German federal states, we perform spatial regression on official firm-level data (AFiD), revealing that the regional differences in allocative efficiency are significantly associated with trade openness, competitive intensity, economies of scale and labor mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the critical policies to encourage oil palm development in Indonesia is the Nucleus Estate Smallholders Project. This project involves engaging farmer organizations in operating and managing oil palm plantations. However, there are gaps in the organizational performance of plasma farmer cooperatives, which consequently affect oil palm productivity and farmers’ welfare. This paper analyzes the income gaps among oil palm plasma farmers who are associated with state and private companies in Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, Indonesia. The results of the analysis show that the income of plasma farmers from the private company is higher than that of the state company plasma farmers. The type of nucleus company has a significant effect on the plasma farm households’ income due to the differences in the organizational performance of the private- and state-sponsored cooperatives and the differences in the nucleus-plasma farmer relations. The cooperative that operates in a private company performs well, whereas the cooperative in a state company has ceased its operations. This research also found out that the number of household working members, income share from oil palm production, and land area have significant effects on the income of plasma farm households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study econometrically examines the impacts of an improved road transportation system on labor allocation, input use, and livelihood diversification in an economically lagging part of Bangladesh. Before 1998, the northwest part of Bangladesh, home to 22% of nearly 160 million people, was de-linked from the economically advanced eastern part of Bangladesh. On June 23, 1998, the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge (JMB) on the river Jamuna was opened for use. The bridge has established direct road and rail transportation systems between the northwestern part and the eastern part of Bangladesh. Using these phenomena, and linking the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data, HIES2000 and HIES2010, this study elucidates the impacts of improved infrastructure on labor allocation and the input application behavior of the sampled households. Applying the difference-in-difference estimation approach, this study demonstrates that the JMB that has linked the northwest and eastern regions has encouraged labor out-migration, resulting in the most vulnerable day-laborers in both farm and non-farm sectors moving to other jobs with relatively high marginal returns. The improved transportation infrastructure had also increased the daily wage rates, which were lower than the comparison group, and the cropping intensity in the Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions. The study, therefore, concludes that investment in infrastructure can be instrumental in unleashing economic growth and alleviating poverty in the economically struggling parts of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development literature has documented the importance of property rights of farmland for household well-being. Despite this well-supported consensus, limited empirical evidence has been provided for forestland. This study fills the gap in existing literature by identifying the determinants of forestland use rights transaction decision (FTD)–that is the decision of households to rent in or rent out the forestland. This paper also empirically assesses the association between the FTD and the economic well-being and labor allocation of households in China. Using unique survey data of 2228 households in 7 provinces of China, a multiple-choice treatment effect model was estimated to cope with potential endogeneity bias. Results indicate that forestland size, forestland fragmentation, and age and education of the household head, as well as region heterogeneity, are associated with the decision to participate in FTD. Households renting forestland from others have higher household consumption and savings than those households without forestland transaction, and households renting out forestland also have a higher level of savings. The improvement in household economic well-being due to FTD is possibly because of an efficient reallocation of family and hired labor as well as a higher likelihood to receive policy financial loans on forest production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green innovation is key to promoting the manufacturing industry's green development and transformation. One way to promote green innovation in manufacturing enterprises can be the deep integration of big data. Using data on listed Chinese manufacturing enterprises from 2014 to 2019, we examine the impacts of big data on green innovation and the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Using a panel fixed effects regression model, we find that big data significantly and positively affects green innovation. Internal mechanism analyses reveal that big data improves the manufacturing industry's green innovation by improving the factor allocation efficiency for both labor and capital. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the promotional effect of big data on green innovation is more prominent in private enterprises than in state-owned enterprises. The government should formulate big data application policies, and provide incentives for the deep integration of big data in manufacturing enterprises to accelerate green innovation. • Improving the use of big data can improve green innovation by manufacturing enterprises. • Big data can improve green innovation by the manufacturing industry by improving the efficiency of factor allocation of both labor and capital. • Big data on green innovation is more prominent in private enterprises than those that are government owned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The benefits of behavioral flexibility in social insect societies are well known, but the advantages of limited flexibility have seldom been considered. Florida harvester ant colonies maintain a stable forager population size for much of their active season, and despite seasonal variation in chronological age, foragers die within 27 days of initiating foraging. To determine how colonies balance forager mortality and forager replacement, we tested the relative influences of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on forager membership, retention, and longevity. Potential and realized forager longevity differed significantly. Residual lifespan increased by 57 % when colonies were penned for 20 days, and up to 8-fold when foragers were retained in the laboratory. Increased forager longevity inhibited the movement of new workers into the forager population. In contrast, increased mortality and starvation did not stimulate the addition of new foragers and forager population size declined when mortality exceeded 4 % per day. Experimental increases in forager number, body fat, and the ratio of larvae to foragers did not induce behavioral reversion in existing foragers. These results suggest an unidirectional allocation strategy, with foragers that are less disposable and less behaviorally flexible than the well-studied honey bee. In P. badius, forager membership is maintained not by young ants detecting increased demand, but by workers developing at rates that allow forager replacement and prevent excessive worker depletion. In the absence of a lifespan matched to predictable risks, opportunistic increases in forager survival may promote colony growth by inhibiting the scheduled and irreversible transitions of younger workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifelong learning in China is explored in terms of China’s developing modernization in the areas of agriculture, industry, military, and science and technology. Issues involving labor distribution allocation, skill and training, and potential problems are addressed. The role of adult learning in China is contrasted with Western ideas and traced through time to show how it has changed to accommodate the country’s needs in terms of illiteracy and skill development and used to be inexplicably intertwined with the country’s political agenda and educational policy.

Highlights: [•] China has been retiring degraded cropland and expanding forest covers. [•] Changes in land use have accelerated labor transfer into off-farm sectors. [•] Farming has been intensified to offset the effects of cropland reduction. [•] Average household income increased by 250%, leading to large reduced poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article examines the relationship between unemployment, family structure, and labor allocation in rural South Africa. Chronic joblessness has meant that many young, unemployed adults remain in the parental home. However, their productive labor is often not utilized in family farming. Using detailed ethnographic data on intra-household social relations, I argue that the prohibitive cost of marriage, and its consequent decline, has led to the erosion of obligations formerly implied by the “conjugal contract”. Young, unmarried adults often have limited responsibilities to provide labor or income to the parental home, diminishing the overall viability of small-scale farming. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of International Journal of Organizations / Revista Internacional de Organizaciones (RIO) is the property of Analisi Social i Organitzativa grup de recerca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores how technological changes affected labor allocations within the U.S. Navy. During the latter nineteenth century, the officer corps was highly specialized, split between groups of line and staff officers. Developments in general purpose technologies created a dilemma for the organization, as it balanced between the benefits of a specialized workforce implementing increasingly complex technologies with rising communication and coordination costs. We first document the nature and extent of labor specialization in the mid-nineteenth-century Navy-engineers worked more with newer and larger vessels, while line officers worked more with unskilled personnel. The Navy endeavored to destroy this distinction, forcing generalized training and tasks for all officers. We suggest that the Navy's phased-in approach was an effective strategy, helping the U.S. to become a world-class naval power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a self-organizing entity, an ant colony must divide a limited number of workers among numerous competing functions. Adaptive patterns of labor allocation should vary with colony need across each annual cycle, but remain almost entirely undescribed in ants. Allocation to foraging in 55 field colonies of the Florida harvester ant ( Pogonomyrmex badius) followed a consistent annual pattern over 4 years. Foragers preceded larvae in spring and peaked during maximal larval production in summer (0.37). In spring, proportion foraging increased due to an increase in forager number and reduction in colony size, and in late summer, it decreased as colony size increased through new worker birth and a loss of ∼3 % of foragers per day. The removal of 50 % of the forager population revealed that, at the expense of larval survival, colonies did not draw workers from other castes to fill labor gaps. To determine if labor allocation was age specific, whole colonies were marked with cuticle color-specific wire belts and released, and each cohort's time to first foraging was noted. Workers that eclosed in summer alongside sexual alates darkened quickly and became foragers at ∼43 days of age, whereas autumn-born workers required 200 or more days to do so. Following colony reproduction, these long-lived individuals foraged alongside short-lived, summer-born sisters during the next calendar year. Therefore, the large-scale, predictable patterns of labor allocation in P. badius appear to be driven by bimodal worker development rate and age structure, rather than worker responsiveness to changes in colony demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using China’s Annual Survey of Industrial Production, we estimate the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) for all state-owned and above-scale non-state manufacturing firms for 2001–2004 and 2004–2007. We find that labor productivity varies systematically within industries by ownership type and that non-state firms face implicit labor taxation relative to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We also find that, in keeping with ongoing reforms of the state sector, ownership differentials fall over time, with gaps between non-state enterprises and SOEs falling by about half over time. Within the non-state sector, enterprises registered as legal persons have higher MRPL, on average, than do firms registered as collective or private enterprises. Disaggregating this group using information on equity shares reveals that firms registered as legal persons and majority owned by legal persons have the highest MRPL relative to SOEs. Indeed, these enterprises show significantly higher MRPL than those firms directly controlled by the state. Legal-person firms with majority state ownership have MRPL differentials similar to those for legal-person firms with majority private or majority collective ownership. This evidence is consistent with continuing, albeit diminishing, implicit labor subsidies for directly SOEs but not for firms whose shares are owned by the state, even if those shares are registered to legal persons. (JEL codes: L16, O53, P23, P31) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study models and investigates the presence of precautionary wealth among farm households, something few studies have attempted. Using pooled farm-level data, we find that self-employed farm households accumulate more wealth. Precautionary savings is about 8% of total household wealth. In addition, we find that age, education, occupation, and operation size are important factors influencing wealth accumulation by US farm households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asset endowments and market imperfections shape households' labor allocation decisions and lead to different production regimes within rural farm households in South Africa. This article uses a farm household model to explain the presence of three main household groups determined on the basis of the labor regime adopted: small peasants (working both on and off farm), self-cultivators (autarkic in labor) and hiring-in households. A partial generalized ordered logit is used to test the main predictions of the model and a Brant test on threshold constancy is performed to identify the household-specific factors affecting labor market participation. The results show that liquidity constraints and market imperfections matter in the choice of the labor strategy adopted. Liquidity-constrained households are more likely to sell labor off farm while access to information facilitates the hiring in of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to investigate the simultaneity between farm couples' decisions on labor allocation and production efficiency. Using an unbalanced panel data set of Norwegian farm households (1989-2008), we estimate off-farm labor supply of married farm couples and farm efficiency in a three-equation system of jointly determined endogenous variables. We address the issue of latent heterogeneity between households. We solve the problem by two-stage OLS and GLS estimation where state dependence is accounted for in the reduced form equations. We compare the results against simpler model specifications where we suppress censoring of off-farm labor hours and endogeneity of regressors, respectively. In the reduced form specification, a considerably large number of parameters are statistically significant. Davidson-McKinnon test of exogeneity confirms that both operator and spouse's off-farm labor supply should be treated as endogenous in estimating farming efficiency. The parameter estimates seem robust across model specifications. Off-farm labor supply of farm operators and spouses is jointly determined. Off-farm work by farm operator and spouses positively affects farming efficiency. Farming efficiency increases with operator's age, farm size, agricultural subsidises, and share of current investment to total farm capital stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research conducted in order to describe the patterns of allocation of workers to foraging, the association of these patterns with worker demography, the creation of foraging territories and the dispersal of foragers in the Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta. It discusses the changes of colony size and territory area which are driven by seasonal variation of sexual and worker production.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa and has faced significant deforestation over the years. This paper seeks to examine the nature of the relationship between poverty and forests in Malawi. We try to answer three sets of questions: a) what is the extent of biomass available for meeting the energy needs of the poor in Malawi and how is this distributed? b) To what extent does fuelwood scarcity affect the welfare of the poor? And c) do households spend more time in fuelwood collection in response to scarcity? We answer these questions by matching household surveys with remote-sensing data. Our analyses suggest that biomass scarcity is associated with small but significantly lower household welfare, particularly for the rural poor. At current high levels of scarcity, 80% of rural poor households are likely to benefit from an increase in biomass in the community. Rural women spend more time on fuelwood collection where biomass is scarce. The small decrease in welfare associated with biomass scarcity suggests that households cope with scarcity in a variety of ways. Any effort to reduce degradation and deforestation in Malawi has to build on a clear understanding of household adaptation to fuelwood scarcity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is motivated by the fact that (part-time) individual farming is commonly observed among rural households in a number of transition economies but it is not clear prima facie if such resource allocation is optimal. A conceptual model of household labor allocation between individual farming and off-farm wage employment is developed. The model explicitly accounts for the role of household endowments in labor allocation as the analysis is conditioned on the status of factor markets. The hypotheses are empirically tested using 1998 data from a country-representative survey of rural households in Hungary, an advanced transition country, which only recently became EU member state. Results provide evidence that capital market imperfections still remain. Implications for the policies related to agricultural sector restructuring, employment and rural development are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, the preceding case studies are evaluated from the perspective of the family strategies concept. The studies have yielded new insights in the relationship between the family and the labor market and in the labor allocation within families. In addition, they have shown the tensions between individual life plans and collective needs. It has been difficult, however, to reach firm conclusions about which strategies were deployed by families. One of the problems is that the motives of the family members remain hidden. In addition, our databases need to be more finely tuned to the strategies concept. In particular, we know too little on the range of (strategic) options of families in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intrahousehold distribution of benefits and costs of PPT are evaluated focusing on intrahousehold labor and expenditure allocation. • Endogenous switching regression is utilized on gender-disaggregated data. • Adoption of PPT reduces women's and men's workloads and increases spending on child schooling and household public goods. Considerable research documents why women farmers have lower technology adoption rates than men farmers, but relatively little is known about what happens within a household after technology uptake. This study contributes through an investigation of the intrahousehold distribution of benefits and costs of agricultural technology adoption in western Kenya. Using gender-disaggregated data and an endogenous switching regression approach, we elucidate the causal effects of push pull technology (PPT) adoption on intrahousehold labor and expenditure allocation. Results show that adoption increases household labor allocation for harvesting of maize, the staple crop, but reduces the labor required for other tasks (e.g., ploughing and weeding). In net, the technology is labor saving, with men experiencing a slightly greater workload reduction than women. In terms of expenditure impacts, PPT uptake increases household expenditures on children's education and consumption goods commonly associated with female preferences. Study findings support wider uptake of PPT to trigger gains in social and economic wellbeing for both men and women farmers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]