Soft Skills for Hard Constraints : Evidence from High-Achieving Female Farmers

Montalvao, Joao ; Frese, Michael ; Goldstein, Markus ; Kilic, Talip

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: NONCOGNITIVE SKILLS;    PERSONALITY;    AGRIBUSINESS;    TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION;    EMPOWERMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8095
RP-ID  :  WPS8095

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper documents the positive linkbetween the noncognitive skills of women farmers and theadoption of a cash crop. The context is Malawi, one of thepoorest countries in the world, where the majority of ruralhouseholds practice subsistence farming. The analysis findsthat a one standard deviation increase in noncognitiveability related to perseverance is associated with a fivepercentage point (or 33 percent) increase in the probabilityof adoption of the main cash crop. This link is notexplained by differences across women in education andcognitive skills. It is also not explained by the fact thatwomen with higher noncognitive ability tend to be married tohusbands of higher noncognitive ability and education. Theeffect of female noncognitive skills on adoption isconcentrated in patrilocal communities, where women facegreater adversity and thus where it would be expected thatthe returns to such skills would be highest. One mainchannel through which noncognitive skills seem to work isthrough the use of productive inputs, including higherlevels of labor, fertilizer, and agricultural advice services.