The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia

How does the amount of land youth expect to inherit affect their migration and employment decisions? This paper explores this question in the context of rural Ethiopia using panel data from 2010 and 2014. We estimate a household fixed-effects model and exploit exogenous variation in the timing of la...

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Autores principales: Kosec, Katrina, Ghebru, Hosaena, Holtemeyer, Brian, Mueller, Valerie, Schmidt, Emily
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148411
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author Kosec, Katrina
Ghebru, Hosaena
Holtemeyer, Brian
Mueller, Valerie
Schmidt, Emily
author_browse Ghebru, Hosaena
Holtemeyer, Brian
Kosec, Katrina
Mueller, Valerie
Schmidt, Emily
author_facet Kosec, Katrina
Ghebru, Hosaena
Holtemeyer, Brian
Mueller, Valerie
Schmidt, Emily
author_sort Kosec, Katrina
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description How does the amount of land youth expect to inherit affect their migration and employment decisions? This paper explores this question in the context of rural Ethiopia using panel data from 2010 and 2014. We estimate a household fixed-effects model and exploit exogenous variation in the timing of land redistributions to overcome endogenous household decisions about how much land to bequeath to descendants. We find that larger expected land inheritances significantly lower the likelihood of long-distance permanent migration and of permanent migration to urban areas during this time. Inheriting more land is also associated with a significantly higher likelihood of employment in agriculture and a lower likelihood of employment in the nonagricultural sector. Conversely, the decision to attend school is unaffected. These results appear to be most heavily driven by males and by the older half of our youth sample. We also find several mediating factors matter. Land inheritance plays a much more pronounced role in predicting rural-to-urban permanent migration and nonagricultural-sector employment in areas with less vibrant land markets and in relatively remote areas (those far from major urban centers). Overall, the results suggest that inheritance strongly influences the spatial location and strategic employment decisions of youth.
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spelling CGSpace1484112025-11-06T07:07:13Z The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia Kosec, Katrina Ghebru, Hosaena Holtemeyer, Brian Mueller, Valerie Schmidt, Emily land inheritance rights employment youth agriculture migration How does the amount of land youth expect to inherit affect their migration and employment decisions? This paper explores this question in the context of rural Ethiopia using panel data from 2010 and 2014. We estimate a household fixed-effects model and exploit exogenous variation in the timing of land redistributions to overcome endogenous household decisions about how much land to bequeath to descendants. We find that larger expected land inheritances significantly lower the likelihood of long-distance permanent migration and of permanent migration to urban areas during this time. Inheriting more land is also associated with a significantly higher likelihood of employment in agriculture and a lower likelihood of employment in the nonagricultural sector. Conversely, the decision to attend school is unaffected. These results appear to be most heavily driven by males and by the older half of our youth sample. We also find several mediating factors matter. Land inheritance plays a much more pronounced role in predicting rural-to-urban permanent migration and nonagricultural-sector employment in areas with less vibrant land markets and in relatively remote areas (those far from major urban centers). Overall, the results suggest that inheritance strongly influences the spatial location and strategic employment decisions of youth. 2016-12-29 2024-06-21T09:24:37Z 2024-06-21T09:24:37Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148411 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154283 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153518 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153598 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153622 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148104 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133537 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Kosec, Katrina; Ghebru, Hosaena; Holtemeyer, Brian; Mueller, Valerie; and Schmidt, Emily. 2016. The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1594. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148411
spellingShingle land inheritance rights
employment
youth
agriculture
migration
Kosec, Katrina
Ghebru, Hosaena
Holtemeyer, Brian
Mueller, Valerie
Schmidt, Emily
The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title_full The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title_fullStr The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title_short The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia
title_sort effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions evidence from rural ethiopia
topic land inheritance rights
employment
youth
agriculture
migration
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148411
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