The impacts of non traditional exports on income, child health and education in rural Zambia

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of non-traditional exports on household outcomes in rural Zambia. It is the attempt to identify and estimate second round effects that distinguishes this paper from most of the current literature. We study the impacts on income, child health and education using a propensity score matching methodology. We find positive income differentials of households involved in market agriculture over subsistence agriculture. While we find that children living in households involved in cotton tend to show better long-run anthropometric outcomes, no systematic differences are observed in households engaged in other agricultural activities. Finally, we find that households in market agriculture tend to educate their children more. There is some evidence that boys are benefited more than girls.