We provide new micro evidence on the discussion about the relationship between financial development and welfare. Relying on the concept of local financial development our analysis focuses on three dimensions of household welfare: vulnerability to poverty, investment, and consumption smoothing....

This paper analyses changes in income portfolios of rural households and its determinants for the case of Ghana in the 1990s. Our analysis shows that, contrary to common beliefs, rural Ghana has seen major economic transformation, as households increasingly diversify their livelihoods by both...

We use a large linked employer-employee data set to analyze the importance of relative wage positions in the context of individual quit decisions as an inverse measure of job satisfaction. Our main findings are: (1) Workers with higher relative wage positions within their firms are on average...

Economic conditions at the time of labour market entry can induce wage differentials between workers entering the labour market at different points in time. While there exists much empirical evidence on the existence and persistence of the effects of labour market entry conditions, little is...

This paper examines the role that human capital plays in firm?s strategic decisions. It focuses on long-distance corporate relocations which present certain trade-offs in terms of human capital and modifies firms? relationship with the labour force. It is assessed to what extent having (an...

In Malawi, informal off-farm labour (ganyu) has often been described as a survival strategy which eventually drives poor rural households into even further destitution. Based on data from the Second Integrated Household Survey for 2004, we estimate the determinants of the decision to supply...