Yeyoung Lee
I am a PhD Candidate in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University.
My primary research field is Development Economics. I study how agricultural technologies impact women's empowerment and household welfare in developing countries.
I am on the 2025-26 job market.
If you are interested, please see: Yeyoung Lee CV
Please contact me if you have any questions: leeyeyou@msu.edu
Job Market Paper
Does small-scale irrigation affect women's time allocation? Insights from Ethiopia
Published on August 27, 2025. World Development: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107106.
Abstract
Small-scale irrigation (SSI) interventions have received increasing attention as a potential pathway for women’s empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa. One key aspect of women’s empowerment that SSI can influence is women’s time burden. Hypothesized benefits of SSI for women are less energy exertion and reduced labor in agriculture. Yet, these hypotheses have not been tested empirically. We explore how household adoption of different SSI technologies affects the time allocation of women in the household, using two rounds of intrahousehold panel survey data from Ethiopia. Two different approaches are used to address potential endogeneity issues related to time-constant and time-varying factors that may be correlated with both SSI and time use: an instrumental variables-correlated random effects approach and a fractional multinomial logit-correlated random effects with control function approach. The results suggest that household use of SSI in general is associated with an increase in women’s leisure time. The results further suggest that household use of motor pumps is associated with an increase in women’s leisure time and reductions in the time they spend on farming and personal care. Given that women often provide the labor for irrigation using manual, labor-intensive methods, such as watering cans, buckets, or hand- or foot-powered treadle pumps, the results suggest that SSI using motorized methods has the potential to free up women’s time in farming and enable more leisure time. These findings have broad implications for women’s empowerment and labor allocation. Future research using new and more comprehensive data could explore the mechanisms for the findings in this study and determine if SSI enables women to improve their ability to allocate their time to activities they prefer.
Keywords: Small-scale irrigation, time allocation, women's empowerment, Ethiopia, instrumental variables, fractional multinomial logit
Other Published Articles
with Beliyou Haile, Greg Seymour, and Carlo Azzarri, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(2): 732-749, 2021
Abstract
Agricultural production in Africa is generally highly labor intensive with gender-specific specialization across activities. Using panel data from Tanzania, we examine the effects of heat stress (temperature above 29°C) during the maize-growing season on gender-disaggregated agricultural labor use. Results show that heat stress reduces total male family labor but does not statistically affect female family labor. Households with only female adults seem to increase their labor supply under heat stress. Given these heterogeneous effects, gender-sensitive development interventions and adaptation strategies are suggested to enhance women's adaptive capacity.
with Donghwan An and Taeyoon Kim, Korean Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61: 161-179, 2020
Abstract
Extension service plays a crucial role in agricultural production and household food security in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA). Despite the growing evidence on the effects of extension service on various outcomes, including crop productivity, technology adoption, and income, the evidence is limited on the impact on farmers’ ability to select and allocate inputs. While the effects of the extension service can vary with spatial variation, our study examines the effects of extension crop (maize, bean, and rice) production, revenue, and profit in Mbale district, located in the Eastern region of Uganda. We decompose the effects of extension into three: worker effect, input-allocation effect, and input-selection effect. Using household-level data based on the 204 farmers' surveys, we examine the effects of extension service. Both worker and allocative effects of rice are found, while the former is more dominant than the latter. The results also show that the input-selection effect is more influential than the input-allocation effect. Overall, the findings suggest that much attention should be paid to rice farmers in Mbale district by supporting access to agricultural and market information with innovations in farm technology that enable farmers to receive optimal returns in crop production. Given the effects of extension service, tailored strategies and agricultural programs are suggested to enhance the capacity of farmers and increase profitable marketed output that will help to promote sustainable development.
Yeyoung Lee
Ph.D. Candidate at Michigan State University
Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics
Michigan State University
446 W. Circle Drive
East Lansing, MI 48824