Based on case studies of Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia, this book examines the changes in rural labour markets as a result of a decade of structural adjustment programmes. These programmes were meant to shift relative prices in favour of the agricultural sector, and, within the agricultural sector, in favour of export crops. In response, labour should have moved to the favoured sector. The case studies show that such a shift did not occur and the overview chapter reviews the complexities of the African labour markets which ensured this outcome.

First published in 1997, this volume asks whether Africa's future is necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture. The title of this book, Farewell to Farms, is deliberately intended to challenge the widely held view that Africa is the world's reserve for peasant farming. African rural populations are themselves moving away from a reliance on agriculture. 'De-agrarianisation' takes the form of urban migration as well as the expansion of non-agricultural activities in rural areas providing new income sources, occupations and social identities for rural dwellers. Using recent continent-wide case study evidence, the authors assess the impact of de-agrarianisation on household welfare, business performance and national development. Their findings, which reveal new economic trajectories and social patterns emerging from a period of accelerated change, call into question assumptions about Africa's future place in the world division of labour.

At the end of the 1970s Tunisia was hailed, among developing countries, as the perfect example of the economic miracle. A decade later and Tunisia is the perfect example of the economic tragedy. The rapid development and industrialization - the Tunisian economy has dramatically shifted from predominantly rural to urban - of the 70s and early 80s was so great as to double per capita income and prompted the World Bank to promote Tunisia to the "middle income" league. "Tunisia - Rural Labour and Structural Transformation", identifies the reasons for the spectacular growth and subsequent decline of the economy. The main aim of the book, however, is to analyze this transformation, and its social and economic implications for the country. In particular, the authors examine the adjustments in the labour market and their effects on equity and welfare.