Structural Change and Welfare: A Micro Panel Data Evidence from Ghana

Ghana is an example of a developing economy where both output and employment have shifted from agriculture to services and where structural change has not followed the standard pattern observed for many industrialised countries. However, there appears to be a limited understanding of what this changing structure means for poverty reduction and welfare for Ghana, with previous studies focusing mainly on the growth effect of structural change. This article interrogates the welfare effects of cross-sector labour movements in Ghana using the first two waves of the Ghana Socio-economic Panel Surveys. Our results show that labour movements from agriculture to services improve welfare while a move from services to agriculture decreases welfare. We also find that women and younger people are more likely to undertake the welfare-enhancing move, from agriculture to services, than men and older people respectively. On the other hand, we find that men, older people and individuals with relatively high-risk profile are more likely to move from services to agriculture. These findings support the view that structural change in Ghana have played a significant role in Ghana’s poverty reduction achievements in the last three decades.

加纳作为发展中经济体的典型样本，其产出与就业均已从农业转向服务业，且结构转型并未遵循诸多工业化国家的标准模式。然而，学界对这类结构变化对加纳减贫与社会福利的影响尚缺乏充分认知，过往研究多聚焦于结构转型的增长效应。本文利用加纳社会经济面板调查（Ghana Socio-economic Panel Surveys）的前两波数据，探讨了加纳跨部门劳动力流动的福利效应。研究结果显示，劳动力从农业流向服务业可改善社会福利，而从服务业流向农业则会降低福利水平。我们还发现，相较于男性与年长群体，女性及年轻群体更有可能参与到提升福利的农业向服务业流动中；另一方面，男性、年长群体以及风险偏好相对较高的个体更倾向于从服务业流向农业。上述研究结果佐证了这样一种观点，即加纳的结构转型在过去三十年间对该国的减贫成就发挥了重要作用。