Occupational choices and their outcomes in African labour markets

Thesis

This thesis is an investigation into the microeconomic mechanisms that govern some of the occupational choices faced by workers in Sub-Saharan Africa, and into the monetary and non-monetary returns to their decisions.

Chapter 1 begins by exploring the decision process that leads workers to allocate themselves to different occupations within the economy. In particular, I investigate the role of risk-aversion in the allocation of workers between formal and informal jobs in Ghana, hence...

Expand abstract

Authors: Falco, P

• Publication date: 2011
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: risk; self-employment; subjective well-being; returns to capital; risk-aversion; sector allocation; urban enterprise; poverty traps; skills; informality; Africa; income vulnerability; behavioural experiment; happiness; poverty
• Subjects: Economics; Labour economics; Development economics; Microeconomics; Poverty; Africa