Premium
Patterns of Rural Development: A Cross‐Country Comparison using Microeconomic Data
Author(s) -
Winters Paul,
Essam Timothy,
Zezza Alberto,
Davis Benjamin,
Carletto Calogero
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00265.x
Subject(s) - per capita income , economics , per capita , agriculture , wage , agricultural productivity , production (economics) , total personal income , demographic economics , agricultural economics , labour economics , geography , gross income , public economics , macroeconomics , population , demography , archaeology , tax reform , state income tax , sociology
This article proposes a general pattern of rural development in which increases in per capita income are associated with a decline in the importance of agricultural production and a rise in the importance of non‐agricultural income sources. Following the approach to examining Engel’s Law, we use data from 15 developing countries and a merged dataset to test whether such a pattern emerges. The analysis shows a strong, positive relationship between per capita income and the share of income earned from rural non‐agricultural wage employment and a negative relationship between per capita income and agricultural production.