Economics Professor Lectures on Lessons from Ethiopia

Assistant Professor of Economics Mesay Gebresilasse gave the annual Lazerowitz Lecture in Paino Lecture Hall on Thursday, a talk titled “Improving Productivity in Developing Countries: Lessons from Ethiopia.” He addressed the role that agricultural productivity plays in the global economic gap between countries with high and low GDP. Gebresilasse’s research found that strategies like increased access to roads and technology alleviate some of the challenges that prohibit rural communities from having higher agricultural productivity.

The Lazerowitz Lecture is an annual lecture that highlights the work of an assistant professor and has “long been one of the highlights of the academic year at Amherst College,” in the words of Martha Umphrey, provost and dean of the faculty, who introduced Gebresilasse’s talk.

In his lecture, Gebresilasse emphasized how economists utilize different tools to understand the adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies and their implications for economic development.

Gebresilasse began his talk by highlighting the personal nature of his research, as he currently has family members who live in rural areas in Ethiopia, and his desire to “improve their lives and the lives of others in similar conditions.” This personal connection to Ethiopia has offered him an overall interest in the topic of underdevelopment and the role of policy in shaping structural transformation.

Even though Ethiopia is behind most of the world in terms of global GDP, the country has had great economic growth due to agricultural productivity — the industry makes up 36% of Ethiopia’s GDP, while it makes up 0.9% of the GDP of the United States.

Agriculture productivity tends to be lower in developing countries on account of historical and institutional factors, misallocation of farmland, a lack of worker distribution across sectors, and barriers to accessing technology. Even though these factors impact communities independently, Gebresilasse emphasized that "rural communities often face these constraints, which can be interdependent, simultaneously".

A solution to the issue of low agricultural productivity is to attempt to relax some of the constraints placed on communities, especially those in rural areas. Even though there have already been attempts to lighten the impact of these constraints, such as implementing businesses for renting agricultural machinery, these have not been successful due to “coordination failure and complementarities between firms’ and farmers’ decisions.”

To showcase another potential solution to aid agricultural productivity in Ethiopia, Gebresilasse showcased the findings in his paper from 2023 titled “Rural roads, agricultural extension, and productivity.” Within the paper, Gebresilasse considers the impact of agricultural extension, such as development agents, and the extension of roads to rural areas. Development agents, also known as extension agents, are individuals in the community who travel to different local farms and “provide knowledge of best farming practices and facilitate access to modern inputs.”

In his paper, Gebresilasse found that there are complementarities between these two agricultural extension systems. While these two systems are “ineffective in isolation, villages that have access to both roads and extension agents saw increased productivity by 6%.” Showing how, when utilized together, agricultural extension systems aid agricultural productivity.

Gebresilasse also showcased his findings from an ongoing paper titled "Small Scale Farm Mechanization." In this paper, he highlights how farm mechanization improves productivity by alleviating drudgery and injury, addressing the labor shortage, reducing post-harvest yield, and providing cost savings.

He emphasized how “small-scale mechanization is the key to jump-starting the transition.” Even though small-scale mechanization has the disadvantage of being less powerful, he found that through supplying members of the community with subsidies for mechanical farming tools, there was an “increased take-up in hired mechanized services, especially in female-headed households.”

Following the talk, there was an open Q&A session.

Jun Ishii, associate professor of economics, asked how expensive Gebresilasse’s research was. Gebresilasse noted that the research he conducted through randomized control trials was costly, as he had to pay farm workers in Ethiopia and provide funding for the subsidies of the mechanized farm tools. He suggested that the research is “expensive but hopefully impacts policy and academics.”

Rhine Hazra ’26 and Macy Li ’27, both economics majors, expressed satisfaction with the lecture.

Li thought the talk was “very insightful,” as she is currently taking a class with Gebresilasse in economic research methods. She enjoyed “seeing what I was learning about in action, and learning more about research that is going on within the department.”

Hazra acknowledged how other departments can be more “professor-centric,” such as hosting more presentations and panel discussions. She felt that the economics department was “severely lacking,” which could lead to the economics department being “seen as elusive,” so it was “enlightening to see what economic research actually looks like from an Amherst professor.”

Correction, April 23, 2025: A previous version of this article said “rural communities face these independent constraints at the same time.” It should say "interdependent." Additionally, Gebresilasse's ongoing paper "Small Scale Farm Mechanization" was previously referred to as “Gender and demand stimulation for agricultural mechanization service use in Ethiopia,” and was previously stated as being published in 2023.