The Anatomy of Income Distribution in Urban Ethiopia

Poverty is gradually spreading to the urban areas of Ethiopia, although it remains more extensive in the rural areas. This paper presents the first substantial analysis, since the 1960s, of the distribution of urban incomes and their determinants. It uses data for 1994 for an analysis of the economic well-being of urban households; it shows that income diversification is a typical characteristic of the poor, while those who are better off derive more than 75 per cent of their income from wage employment. Multiple activity remains less common in urban Ethiopia than in comparable countries, which is not surprising, since the two-decade socialist rule ruined the private sector. — La pauvreté, déjà généralisée dans les régions rurales de l’Ethiopie, se répand progressivement dans les zones urbaines de ce pays. Cet article présente la première analyse approfondie relative à la distribution des revenus dans les villes et aux déterminants de ces revenus, depuis les années 60. Les données pour 1994 sont utilisées pour analyser les conditions de vie des ménages urbains; l’article montre que la diversification du revenu est une caractéristique des pauvres tandis que les couches de la population mieux nanties tirent plus de 75 pour cent de leurs revenus d’un emploi salarié. Par rapport à d’autres pays analogues, la multiplicité de l’activité reste peu courante dans les zones urbaines d’Ethiopie, ce qui n’est guère surprenant étant donné que les deux décennies de régime socialiste ont ruiné le secteur privé.     

The impact of perception and other factors on the adoption of agricultural technology in the Moret and Jiru Woreda (district) of Ethiopia

The objectives of this study arc to examine both the significance of the impact of farmers' perceptions regarding new technology for the adoption decision and how perceptions themselves are influenced by the decision to adopt new technology. The study is based on data from 96 wheat farms in the Moret and Jiru woreda (district) of Ethiopia. The probit approach is used to analyse the adoption decision, while the variables relevant to farmers' perceptions are modelled using the ordered probit methodology. A simultaneous equations model combining the probit and ordered probit approaches provides a useful approach to modelling the two-way relationship between perception and adoption. Variables such as farm size, farm income and soil type have a key role to play in the model. Perception is measured by eight different components and as there is a strong collinearity among these various measures, a principal components analysis is attempted to draw the best possible linear combination of variables.