Publication Date:
2014-04-05
Description:
This article examines the substitutability, productivity, efficiency, and evolution of an important agrarian nonmarket institution—labor sharing. Analysis of field-level data on forest clearing through time among Amazonian shifting cultivators reveals that ( a ) family, hired, and cooperative labor are perfect substitutes, and hired and cooperative labor are equally productive, and both are more productive than family labor; ( b ) the combination of labor market and labor sharing makes productivity-adjusted total labor use unconstrained by household and network endowments (i.e., efficient labor allocation); and ( c ) as labor composition is constrained by network endowments and liquidity, credit policies alter both labor composition and labor network formation.
Keywords:
O13 - Agriculture
;
Natural Resources
;
Energy
;
Environment
;
Other Primary Products, O15 - Human Resources
;
Human Development
;
Income Distribution
;
Migration, O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors
;
Shadow Economy
;
Institutional Arrangements
Print ISSN:
0002-9092
Electronic ISSN:
1467-8276
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
,
Economics
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