Ties that bind: Network redistributive pressure and economic decisions in village economies

Salvatore Di Falco, Francesco Feri, Paolo Pin and Xavier Vollenweider

Journal of Development Economics, 2018, vol. 131, issue C, 123-131

Abstract: In this paper, we identify economic implications of the pressure to share resources within a social network. Through a set of field experiments in rural Tanzania we randomly increased the expected harvest of the treatment group by the assignment of an improved and much more productive variety of maize. We find that treated individuals reduced the interaction with their social network by discussing with fewer people in the village the type of seed they received, so as not to reveal their improved seed. We also find that treated individuals reduced labor input by asking fewer people in the village to work on their farm during the growing season and, as a result, obtained fewer actual harvest gains.

Keywords: Networks; Field experiment; Social norms; Redistributive pressure; Tanzania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 H26 O12 O13 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Ties that Bind: Network Redistributive Pressure and Economic Decisions in Village Economies (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:131:y:2018:i:c:p:123-131

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.001

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