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This paper examines household and community characteristics that influence the entry of rural households into non-farm entrepreneurship and investigates the various factors that influence the market exit of non-farm enterprises (NFEs).

The authors use data from three rounds (2011/12, 2013/14 and 2015/16) of the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). The authors employ panel logit and multilevel logit models to examine the probability of opening one or more enterprises and the enterprise exit rates.

Results indicate that the likelihood of starting a NFE is positively associated with primary education attainment, access to credit, experiencing idiosyncratic shocks and availability of formal financial institutions. Age, higher education attainment and rising farm input prices constrain entry into non-farm entrepreneurship. The enterprise exit rate is negatively associated with small-town residence, wealth, access to tar/gravel roads and cellphone communication.

Policymakers and administrators should strive to address the challenges that communities face in transportation, communication and financial services. Policies aimed at stabilizing prices and increasing access to mobile communication, primary education and road infrastructure could help expand the rural non-farm sector.

Previous studies primarily examined the determinants of participation in NFEs at a given time using cross-sectional data. The current study uses panel data to study the dynamics of NFE ownership by investigating households’ decisions to enter into or exit from the sector.

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0611

This paper examines the gender achievement gap in the Ethiopian secondary education system using tenth-grade national examination results for the period 2002/03–2013/14.

Statistical tests are employed to determine equality of the average male and female GPAs (grade point average), and equality of the proportions of female and male test-takers in the upper and lower achievement distributions. Further, a panel fixed effects model is used to evaluate factors that affect the regional average GPAs by gender and to determine whether those factors could explain observed gender achievement gaps.

Results indicate statistically significant gender achievement gaps in all regional states and the capital city. The gap has been persistent with a minor declining trend and will not be closed if continued at the current trend. The authors also find that the regional average male and female test scores could be explained partially by factors such as pupil-teacher ratio, the proportion of rural students and access to secondary schools. These factors, however, cannot explain the observed gender achievement gap.

The study uses regional data collected from the annual educational abstracts published by the Ethiopian ministry of education. It investigates the trends of the gender achievement gaps across the regional states and overtime at the tenth-grade level. It depicts the persistence of the gap hindering girls from furthering their education.