Is Knowledge Power? Competition and Information in Agricultural Markets

Tara Mitchell

The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series from IIIS

Abstract: This paper investigates an important channel through which access to market information could increase the prices that producers receive from middlemen. I develop a model of trade between a farmer and a middleman, allowing for different types of middlemen, and provide an empirical test of the theory from a framed field experiment carried out in India. The model predicts a non-monotonic relationship between the benefit of information and the cost of switching to a new middleman. I find that middlemen differ in their attitudes towards fairness and the benefit of information to the farmer varies with the cost of switching.

Keywords: Development; Agriculture; Information; Middlemen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O12 O13 Q13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2014-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-com and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp456

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