Networks and Manufacturing Firms in Africa: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment

Marcel Fafchamps and Simon Quinn

No 21132, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We run a novel field experiment to link managers of African manufacturing firms. The experiment features exogenous link formation, exogenous seeding of information, and exogenous assignment to treatment and placebo. We study the impact of the experiment on firm business practices outside of the lab. We find that the experiment successfully created new variation in social networks. We find significant diffusion of business practices only in terms of VAT registration and having a bank current account. This diffusion is a combination of diffusion of innovation and simple imitation. At the time of our experiment, all three studied countries were undergoing large changes in their VAT legislation.

JEL-codes: D22 L26 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-bec, nep-exp, nep-net, nep-soc and nep-ure
Note: DEV
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as Marcel Fafchamps & Simon Quinn, 2018. "Networks and Manufacturing Firms in Africa: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 32(3), pages 656-675.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Networks and Manufacturing Firms in Africa: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment (2018)
Working Paper: Networks and Manufacturing Firms in Africa: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment (2014)
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