| Abstract: | Abstract The decisions of farm wives to work off the farm and the earnings they make in that off-farm employment should be considered simultaneously. Previous studies of wives' off-farm earnings have included only employed wives in their analyses of the factors affecting earnings, which results in biased estimates. This study tests, via Tobit analysis, a model which includes all farm wives and examines the effects of wives' human capital, farm and family constraints, and labor market characteristics on both their off-farm employment decisions and their earnings. Wives' off-farm earnings are found to be related to wives' education, labor market experience, presence of children, other family income, farm size, and debt/income ratio. Changes in these factors have a greater influence on the labor market participation decisions of farm wives than on the variation in their earnings, once employed. |
