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Off-Farm Work Participation, Off-Farm Labor Supply and On-Farm Labor Demand of U.S. Farm Operators

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  • Huffman, Wallace E.
  • El-Osta, Hisham

Abstract

An agricultural household model provides the framework for modeling off-farm work participation and off-farm and on-farm work decisions of farm operators. The empirical results are obtained from fitting the econometric model to data from a large national survey. In the estimated structural off-farm work participation equation, the operator's off-farm wage offer has a strong positive effect and other household income has a negative effect on the probability of off-farm work. For farm operators who participate in off-farm work, the wage elasticity of their off-farm labor supply is positive but of their on-farm labor demand is zero. The income elasticity of off-farm work for those who participate in off-farm work and of on farm work for those who specialize in farm work is negative. Implications are developed for the farm problem.

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  • Huffman, Wallace E. & El-Osta, Hisham, 1997. "Off-Farm Work Participation, Off-Farm Labor Supply and On-Farm Labor Demand of U.S. Farm Operators," ISU General Staff Papers 199712010800001290, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:199712010800001290
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    1. Huffman, Wallace E. & El-Osta, Hisham, 1997. "Off-Farm Work Participation, Off-Farm Labor Supply and On-Farm Labor Demand of U.S. Farm Operators," ISU General Staff Papers 199712010800001290, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Bjornsen, Hild-Marte, 1999. "Off-farm labour decisions of Norwegian farm Households," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa025, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Liu, Yue & Yao, Shunbo & Lin, Ying, 2018. "Effect of Key Priority Forestry Programs on off-farm employment: Evidence from Chinese rural households," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 24-37.
    4. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Hendricks, Chad, 2003. "Off-Farm Work And The Economic Impact Of Adopting Herbicide-Tolerant Crops," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22130, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Peter Howley & Emma Dillon & Thia Hennessy, 2014. "It’s not all about the money: understanding farmers’ labor allocation choices," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(2), pages 261-271, June.
    6. Erik Biørn & Hild-Marte Bjørnsen, 2015. "What motivates farm couples to seek off-farm labour? A logit analysis of job transitions," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 42(2), pages 339-365.
    7. Hisham S. El‐Osta & Ashok K. Mishra & Mitchell J. Morehart, 2007. "Determinants of economic well‐being among U.S. farm operator households," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 36(3), pages 291-304, May.
    8. Vergara, Oscar & Coble, Keith H. & Patrick, George F. & Knight, Thomas O. & Baquet, Alan E., 2004. "Farm Income Variability and the Supply of Off-Farm Labor by Limited-Resource Farmers," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 467-479, August.
    9. Hisham S. El-Osta & Ashok K. Mishra & Mitchell J. Morehart, 2008. "Off-Farm Labor Participation Decisions of Married Farm Couples and the Role of Government Payments," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(2), pages 311-332.
    10. Ahearn, Mary Clare & El-Osta, Hisham S. & Dewbre, Joe, 2002. "The Impact Of Government Subsidies On The Off-Farm Labor Supply Of Farm Operators," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19825, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Bjornsen, Marte, 2002. "Probabilistic modelling of the joint labour decisions of husband and wife in farm households," ERSA conference papers ersa02p513, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Bjornsen, Hild-Marte, 2002. "Probabilistic Modelling of the Joint Labour Decisions of Husband and Wife in Farm Households," Workshop on the Farm Household-Firm Unit: Its Importance in Agriculture and Implications for Statistics, April 12-13,2002, Wye Campus, Imperial College 15717, International Agricultural Policy Reform and Adjustment Project (IAPRAP).
    13. Mishra, Ashok K. & Harris, Michael & Bampasidou, Maria, 2018. "Health Insurance Coverage and Labor Allocation of Beginning Farm Operator Households," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274172, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Hendricks, Chad, 2003. "Off-Farm Work And The Adoption Of Herbicide-Tolerant Soybeans," 2003 Annual Meeting, February 1-5, 2003, Mobile, Alabama 35133, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    15. Bjørnsen, Hild-Marte & Biørn, Erik, 2006. "The Joint Labour Decisions Of Farm Couples: A Censored Response Analysis Of On-Farm And Off-Farm Work," Memorandum 05/2006, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    16. Mishra, Ashok K. & Paudel, Krishna P., 2008. "Policy Reform and Off-farm Labor Supply by Operators in the Delta Region: A," 2008 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2008, Dallas, Texas 6725, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    17. Ooms, Daan L. & Hall, Alastair R., 2005. "EU policy reform simulation based on panel data estimation of on- and off-farm labour supply equations for Dutch dairy farmers," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19434, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    18. Canessa, Eugenia & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia, 2021. "Women's Employment and Natural Shocks," IZA Discussion Papers 14055, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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