Market imperfections exacerbate the gender gap: the case of Malawi

Type Working Paper - World Bank Policy Research Working Paper
Title Market imperfections exacerbate the gender gap: the case of Malawi
Author(s)
Issue 7300
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2015
URL http://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7300
Abstract
This paper hypothesizes that labor and credit market imperfections—by
discouraging off-farm income-generating
activities and restricting access to inputs, respectively—
affect female farm productivity more deeply than male
productivity. The paper develops a theoretical model
that decomposes the contribution of various market
imperfections to the gender productivity gap. The paper
shows empirically that agricultural labor productivity is on
average 44 percent lower on plots managed by female heads
of household than on those managed by male heads. Thirtyfour
percent of this gap is explained by differences in labor
market access and 29 percent by differences in credit access.

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