Drought shocks and labour reallocation in rural Africa: evidence from Ethiopia
利用埃塞俄比亚面板数据，研究发现干旱导致农户减少农业劳动、增加非农自雇，这有助于平滑消费和保障粮食安全，且金融服务获取便利的农户更易调整劳动力配置。
Abstract We study how rural households in Ethiopia adapt to droughts through labour reallocation. Using three waves of panel data and exploiting spatio-temporal variations in drought exposure, we find that households reduce on-farm work and increase off-farm self-employment in response to both short-term and persistent droughts, without abandoning family farming. Diversification into off-farm activities is driven by drought-related productivity declines in agriculture and contributes to consumption smoothing and food security. Households with better access to financial services are more likely to reallocate labour off-farm. Our results highlight the importance of strengthening the rural non-farm economy to enhance rural households’ climate resilience.