Estimating the elderly's returns on the farm: evidence from Cote d'Ivoire

It is often said that the elderly in rural developing countries are more valued by the members of the society. One possible economic reason for the relative status of the elderly in rural areas is that they are likely to have accumulated substantial farm-specific capital, thus increasing the productivity of the farm. This paper examines whether the elderly contribute to the agricultural profits of households in rural Cote d'Ivoire in an uncertain environment. We estimate the returns to having elders on the farm using panel data and find that farm-specific experience mitigates the fall in profits in adverse environmental conditions, particularly at the lower end of the profit distribution, thereby contributing to reduce the variance of profits. The results hold even after controlling for the level of household assets and household fixed effects, and the presence of experienced female members. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: O12; O13; O15.