Land Tenure and Allocative Efficiency in Niger

ENERGY INTAKE AND PRODUCTIVITY OF GUATEMALANSUGARCANE CUTTERS.

AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE EFFICIENCY WAGE HYPOTHESIS

MAARTEN D.C.IMMINK

Rationale behind the paperReports on the results of Productivity- Consumption relation an aspect which is very crucial of the efficiency wage hypothesisIt points to the incentive for managers to pay their employees more than the market-clearing-wage in order to increase their productivityTry to supplement the nutritional level of energy intake to see the effect on sugar cutters in Guatemala

Empirical StudiesReviewed various literature: Rodger (1975)Stiglitz (1976)Mirrlees (1976)All the above used the Efficiency wage Hypothesis to explain why there may exist a long run constant real wage, Which is above the minimum subsistence wage but with pools of unemployed workers

Empirical Studies Contd

Empirical Studies contdThe efficiency curve

Methodology

Undertook a longitudinal Study (correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time)Sample 158 out of 1238 agricultural labourers (males) who were residents of two small plantation communities located in the coastal lowlands of GuatemalaNone of the Resident households (227 households) owned or leased landData on dietary surveys showed only 43% of households met 90% of their daily energy requirement

Study SettingThe principal work activity of the adult males in both communities was sugarcane harvesting which normally starts in the middle of November and continues until June-JulyWorkers were paid a piece-rate and part of the wages was were paid in kind.

Employment conditions closely approximated those assumed by the efficiency wage hypothesis

Research DesignThe experimental design called for a treatment and control group. The High Energy Supplement (HES) and the Low Energy Supplement (LES)Community 1= HES Community 2= LESThe Supplementation program run for 28monthsThe supplement contained approx. 350Kcals/bottle for the HES group and 15Kcals/bottle for the LES groupThe supplementation was normally distributed twice a day and once on Saturdays

Data Collection ProcedureCompany payrolls were relied upon for data on work output and type of work performed

Work performance of workers was evaluated by assistants who were once sugarcane cutters

Impact of Energy Supplementation on daily intake and energy expenditure levels

Both group of workers were deficient before the supplementation program.

The HES group demonstrated a significantly higher level of daily energy intake during supplementation when compared to pre-supplementation

The LES group remained essentially unchanged

FindingsThe HES group when compared to the LES group performance, did not significantly increase their daily supply of work unitsResults were not consistent with the hypothesis

Critics No attempt was made to validate the data contained in the Company's payroll and might affect the findings

The non-random assignment of the workers to either group weakened the internal validity of the research design

All questions should be directed to Jabbar