Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2023, 69(10):416-425 | DOI: 10.17221/233/2023-AGRICECON


Exploring within- and between-effects of the factors influencing off-farm work decisions in SwitzerlandOriginal Paper

Dierk Schmid ORCID...1, Swetlana Renner ORCID...1, Daniel Hoop ORCID...1
1 Agroscope, Research Division Sustainability Assessment and Agricultural Management, Ettenhausen, Switzerland


We examine the determinants of off-farm work in Swiss agriculture between 2003 and 2013. By differentiating between the between-farm effects and the within-farm effects, our model provides new insights into the labour allocation process as compared with standard cross-sectional or panel data models. As regards the between-farm variations, our results show that younger farm families without children and farm households with higher non-agricultural education levels of both the farmer and the partner are more involved in working activities outside the farm. However, the within-farm time effects provided a more differentiated picture: impacts of changes in most variables over time tended to be smaller, and in case of two variables show opposite directions. In addition to a negative between-effect of farm income on the allocation of off-farm labour, our results on within-farm effects suggest that an increase in farm income per annual family work unit could be compatible with a higher share of off-farm work during the analysed period.

Keywords: farm households; heterogeneity; labour allocation; off-farm labour supply; panel data model; within-between model

Received: July 12, 2023; Revised: October 4, 2023; Accepted: October 5, 2023; Published: October 30, 2023  Show citation

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Schmid D, Renner S, Hoop D.
Exploring within- and between-effects of the factors influencing off-farm work decisions in Switzerland. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2023;69(10):416-425. doi: 10.17221/233/2023-AGRICECON.
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