DP14269 Selection and Absolute Advantage in Farming and Entrepreneurship
Author(s): | Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado, Francesco Amodio, Markus Poschke |
Publication Date: | January 2020 |
Date Revised: | February 2021 |
Keyword(s): | Africa, agricultural productivity gap, entrepreneurship, selection |
JEL(s): | J24, J31, J43, L26, O11, O13, O40 |
Programme Areas: | Development Economics, Macroeconomics and Growth |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14269 |
Output per worker is lower in agriculture than in other sectors, and relatively more so in poor countries. Sorting of workers can explain this if comparative and absolute advantage in agriculture are positively correlated. We investigate this correlation using representative household-level panel data from four African countries. We exploit information on households who engage in both agriculture and non-farm entrepreneurship -- about 1/3 of the population. More productive farming households are more likely to pursue entrepreneurship, allocate more hours to it, and are more likely to enter over time. This implies that agricultural comparative and absolute advantage are negatively correlated.