Off-farm work and capital accumulation decisions of farmers over the life-cycle: the role of heterogeneity and state dependence

This paper analyzes two principal simultaneous decisions of farm operators: off-farm labor supply and farm capital investment. We first develop a theoretical model analyzing the effects of exogenous shocks on farmers' decisions. Then, we estimate jointly a multinomial probit model of farmers' off-farm labor supply and a switching regression model of farm capital, using a two-period panel data set from Israel. This method enables to account for both unobserved heterogeneity and structural state dependence. The results demonstrate that farm capital investments during the 1970s, which were enhanced by heavily subsidized credit, prevented farmers from seeking off-farm employment opportunities. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.