IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/gewi14/187571.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Climate Variability, Shocks and Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Rural Households in Northeast Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Amare, Mulubrhan
  • Waibel, Herman

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of climate variability and shocks on non-farm employment in rural areas of Northeast Thailand. The paper utilizes a large panel data set that includes detailed and retrospective information about shock experience and a corresponding twenty-year historical village-level monthly rainfall data set from rural Northeast Thailand. The paper finds that the labor market is heterogeneous in terms of adapting to climate variability and coping with shocks. Households use non-agricultural wage and self-employment as a means of adapting to rainfall variability while they use agricultural wage to cope with agricultural and demographic shocks. We also show that there is a concave relationship between rainfall variability and both non-agricultural wage and non-farm self-employment. Economic slowdown and idiosyncratic shocks, such as demographic shocks, lead to substantial non-agricultural wage employment reduction. Overall, our findings show that the labor market can be less effective as a means for adapting to severe rainfall variability, economic and demographic shocks. It is also observed that poorer households are less able to exploit the high returns of the labor market to cope with shocks because of a lack of start-up assets.

Suggested Citation

  • Amare, Mulubrhan & Waibel, Herman, 2014. "Climate Variability, Shocks and Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Rural Households in Northeast Thailand," 54th Annual Conference, Goettingen, Germany, September 17-19, 2014 187571, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gewi14:187571
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.187571
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/187571/files/Climate%20Variability_%20Shocks%20and%20Income%20Diversification%20Empirical%20Evidence%20from%20Rural%20Households%20in%20Thailand.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.187571?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sushenjit Bandyopadhyay & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2015. "Rainfall variability, occupational choice, and welfare in rural Bangladesh," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 589-634, September.
    2. Huang, Jikun & Zhi, Huayong & Huang, Zhurong & Rozelle, Scott & Giles, John, 2011. "The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Off-farm Employment and Earnings in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 797-807, May.
    3. Ana Iglesias & Sonia Quiroga & Agustin Diz, 2011. "Looking into the future of agriculture in a changing climate," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 38(3), pages 427-447, August.
    4. Fankhauser, Sam & Soare, Raluca, 2012. "Strategic adaptation to climate change in Europe," EIB Working Papers 2012/01, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    5. Smale, Melinda & Bellon, Mauricio R & Aguirre Gomez, Jose Alfonso, 2001. "Maize Diversity, Variety Attributes, and Farmers' Choices in Southeastern Guanajuato, Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 201-225, October.
    6. Amare, Mulubrhan & Hohfeld, Lena & Jitsuchon, Somchai & Waibel, Hermann, 2012. "Rural–Urban Migration and Employment Quality: A Case Study From Thailand," Asian Development Review, Asian Development Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 57-79.
    7. Davis, Benjamin & Winters, Paul & Carletto, Gero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Zezza, Alberto & Stamoulis, Kostas & Azzarri, Carlo & DiGiuseppe, Stefania, 2010. "A Cross-Country Comparison of Rural Income Generating Activities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 48-63, January.
    8. Ward, Patrick S. & Shively, Gerald E., 2011. "Migration and Land Rental as Risk Response in Rural China," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103379, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Salvatore Di Falco & Mahmud Yesuf & Gunnar Kohlin & Claudia Ringler, 2012. "Estimating the Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in Low-Income Countries: Household Level Evidence from the Nile Basin, Ethiopia," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(4), pages 457-478, August.
    10. Peter Warr, 2011. "Thailand’s Development Strategy and Growth Performance," WIDER Working Paper Series 002, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Jonasson, Erik & Helfand, Steven M., 2010. "How Important are Locational Characteristics for Rural Non-agricultural Employment? Lessons from Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 727-741, May.
    12. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    13. Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta, 2006. "Child labor and agricultural shocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 80-96, October.
    14. Amare, Mulubrhan & Hohfeld, Lena & Jitsuchon, Somchai & Waibel, Hermann, 2012. "Rural–Urban Migration and Employment Quality: A Case Study from Thailand," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 309, Asian Development Bank.
    15. Alex Bowen & Sarah Cochrane & Samuel Fankhauser, 2012. "Climate change, adaptation and economic growth," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 95-106, July.
    16. Lanjouw, Jean O. & Lanjouw, Peter, 2001. "The rural non-farm sector: issues and evidence from developing countries," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 1-23, October.
    17. -, 2009. "The economics of climate change," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38679, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Songporne Tongruksawattana & Vera Junge & Hermann Waibel & Javier Revilla Diez & Erich Schmidt, 2013. "Ex-Post Coping Strategies of Rural Households in Thailand and Vietnam," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Stephan Klasen & Hermann Waibel (ed.), Vulnerability to Poverty, chapter 9, pages 216-257, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katharina Grabrucker & Michael Grimm, 2021. "Is There a Rainbow after the Rain? How Do Agricultural Shocks Affect Non‐Farm Enterprises? Evidence from Thailand," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(5), pages 1612-1636, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amare, M. & Waibel, H., 2015. "Climate Variability, Shocks and Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Rural Household in Northeast Thailand," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 50, March.
    2. Van Hoyweghen, Kaat & Van Den Broek, Goedele & Maertens, Miet, 2018. "Understanding the importance of wage employment for rural development: Evidence from Senegal," Working Papers 272323, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    3. Zeeshan & Geetilaxmi Mohapatra & Arun Kumar Giri, 2022. "How Farm Household Spends Their Non-farm Incomes in Rural India? Evidence from Longitudinal Data," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(4), pages 1967-1996, August.
    4. Nagler, Paula & Naudé, Wim, 2014. "Young Entrepreneurs in Rural Africa: Prevalence, Determinants, Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 8564, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Pace, Noemi & Sebastian, Ashwini & Daidone, Silvio & Dela O Campos, Ana Paula & Prifti, Ervin & Davis, Benjamin, 2022. "Cash transfers’ role in improving livelihood diversification strategies and well-being: short- and medium-term evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Shaikh M. S. U. Eskander & Edward B. Barbier, 2023. "Adaptation to Natural Disasters through the Agricultural Land Rental Market: Evidence from Bangladesh," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 99(1), pages 141-160.
    7. Asfaw, Solomon & Scognamillo, Antonio & Caprera, Gloria Di & Sitko, Nicholas & Ignaciuk, Adriana, 2019. "Heterogeneous impact of livelihood diversification on household welfare: Cross-country evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 278-295.
    8. Asfaw, Solomon & Savastano, Sara, 2015. "Topic: Building Resilience to Climate Change Through Social Protection and Climate-Smart Agriculture: Synergies and Trade-offs," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 210963, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Kakungulu, Moses & Isabirye, Moses & Akoyi, Kevin Teopista & Hoyweghen, Kaat Van & Vranken, Liesbet & Maertens, Miet, 2021. "Changing income portfolios and household welfare in rural Uganda," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 60(3), July.
    10. Shen, Zheng & Fang, Xiangming & Zheng, Xiaodong, 2022. "The impact of women's off-farm employment on depressive symptoms: Evidence from rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    11. Musa Hasen Ahmed & Kumilachew Alamerie Melesse, 2018. "Impact of off-farm activities on technical efficiency: evidence from maize producers of eastern Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Bezu, Sosina & Barrett, Christopher B., 2010. "Activity Choice in Rural Non-farm Employment (RNFE): Survival versus accumulative strategy," MPRA Paper 55034, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Nagler,Paula & Naude, Wim & Nagler,Paula & Naude, Wim, 2014. "Non-farm enterprises in rural Africa : new empirical evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7066, The World Bank.
    14. Johan Eyckmans & Sam Fankhauser & Snorre Kverndokk, 2016. "Development Aid and Climate Finance," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 429-450, February.
    15. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    16. Almeida, Alexandre N. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2019. "Agricultural productivity, shadow wages and off-farm labor decisions in Nicaragua," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 99-110.
    17. Kazi Iqbal & Md Nahid Ferdous Pabon & Md Wahid Ferdous Ibon, 2023. "Examining rural income and employment in Bangladesh: A case of structural changes in the rural nonfarm sector in a developing country," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(3), pages 364-387, July.
    18. Andaleeb Rahman & Sumit Mishra, 2020. "Does Non-farm Income Affect Food Security? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(6), pages 1190-1209, June.
    19. Renata Baborska & Emilio Hernandez & Emiliano Magrini & Cristian Morales-Opazo, 2020. "The impact of financial inclusion on rural food security experience: A perspective from low-and middle-income countries," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18.
    20. Samira Salam & Md. Abul Kalam Azad & Md. Abdus Salam & Mohammad M. Islam, 2020. "Rural-to-Urban Migration and Realization of Expected Better Life in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study in Rajshahi City Corporation," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(10), pages 612-622, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy; International Development;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:gewi14:187571. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gewisea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.