Three essays on development economics : rural labor markets, trade liberalization and crime
BP2-STS
- Arciniegas, Christian ORCID Université de Fribourg
- Fribourg (Switzerland), 2025
1 ressource en ligne (xiv, 212 pages) ; 1 fichier pdf
PhD: Université de Fribourg (Suisse), 05.05.2025
Agricultural households
Rural labor markets
Labor exchange
Information asymmetries
Sub-Saharan Africa
Resource curse
Violence
Mexico
développement économique
avocats (fruits)
violence
pluie
agriculture
marché du travail
partage du travail
bourses du travail
Mexique
Tanzanie
Afrique subsaharienne
English
The agricultural sector in Africa accounts for 20% of GDP and employs half of the continent’s labor force. Furthermore, the global market for agricultural commodities is currently valued at over USD 1.5 trillion. The pivotal role of agriculture in economic development has driven extensive research in development economics, covering topics such as the role of informal institutions in helping farmers overcome market imperfections and the debate on whether natural resources are a curse or a blessing for an economy. To contribute to the literature, this thesis examines agricultural labor markets in Africa and the effects of exporting legal agricultural commodities on violence. It explores three topics: (i) the impact of the Mexican avocado export boom on homicides, drug cartel attacks, and crimes; (ii) the factors influencing Tanzanian women to join labor-exchange teams and their connection to market outcomes; and (iii) how farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa allocate labor in response to rainfall deviations, with a focus on remoteness and labor exchange.
The thesis integrates theoretical models with empirical analyses, using geo-referenced, administrative, survey-based, and novel field-collected data, along with advanced econometric techniques. Key findings show that: (i) the avocado boom reduced violence in most Mexican municipalities, except export-oriented ones; (ii) labor-exchange teams benefit landowners and participating women by lowering monitoring costs and increasing paid work opportunities; and (iii) labor exchange is prevalent among African farmers -particularly in remote areaswith farmers adapting labor utilization to negative but not positive rainfall deviations.
The thesis integrates theoretical models with empirical analyses, using geo-referenced, administrative, survey-based, and novel field-collected data, along with advanced econometric techniques. Key findings show that: (i) the avocado boom reduced violence in most Mexican municipalities, except export-oriented ones; (ii) labor-exchange teams benefit landowners and participating women by lowering monitoring costs and increasing paid work opportunities; and (iii) labor exchange is prevalent among African farmers -particularly in remote areaswith farmers adapting labor utilization to negative but not positive rainfall deviations.
- Faculty
- Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales et du management
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Economics
- Notes
-
- Bibliographie
- License
- License undefined
- Identifiers
-
- SWISSCOVERY 991172573346805501
- DOI 10.51363/unifr.eth.2025.027
- URN urn:nbn:ch:rero-002-122968
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/332341
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