Wage and employment effects of Malawi's fertilizer subsidy program
利用马拉维全国代表性面板数据,研究发现化肥补贴使小农户减少约3天非农劳动供给,同时社区内化肥获取量每增加10公斤,农业工资率提高1.4%,带来小幅收入增长。
This article uses three waves of nationally representative household-level panel data from Malawi to estimate how a large-scale fertilizer subsidy program impacts the agricultural labor market, known as ganyu in that country. I find that when looking across the entire population of smallholders, receiving an additional 100 kg of subsidized fertilizer causes the average household to supply about three fewer days of ganyu. The fertilizer subsidy program also has a small positive effect on the probability that a household demands agricultural labor, with the results approaching statistical significance. In addition, a 10 kg increase in the average amount of subsidized fertilizer acquired per household in a community boosts the median agricultural wage rate by 1.4% in that community. The increase in wage rates translates to a US $1.40 per year increase in average household income in the years after Malawi's subsidy program was scaled up, and a US $1.86 per year increase in average household income for those who sold their labor before the subsidy program was scaled up. This finding suggests that households who sell their labor off farm may experience some small spillover benefit from the program in the form of higher agricultural wage rates.