Effects of investment in education on agricultural labor productivity in ECOWAS countries

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyse the effect of investment in education on agricultural labour productivity in the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimators were applied to data from the 15 ECOWAS countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The empirical results reveal that investment in education positively and significantly affects agricultural labour productivity in ECOWAS countries. The long-term elasticity of investment in education in relation to agricultural labour productivity is 0.436% and 0.469% respectively for the FMOLS and DOLS models. The study also reveals the importance of physical capital, migrant remittances, life expectancy at birth, trade openness and GDP per capita in improving agricultural labour productivity. The empirical results of this study therefore reveal the need for greater investment in education in ECOWAS countries in order to boost agricultural labour productivity and achieve food security. It would be important for investment in education to be channelled more towards innovation sectors, so that the impact on the economies of ECOWAS countries can be sustained.

Key words: Investment, education, agricultural labour productivity, ECOWAS.

JEL: E20, I20, Q10.

Paper type: Empirical Research