Playing with the social network: Social cohesion in resettled and non-resettled communities in Cambodia

Simone Gobien () and Björn Vollan

Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck

Abstract: Mutual aid among villagers in developing countries is often the only means of insuring against economic shocks. We use 'lab-in-the-field experiments' in Cambodian villages to study social cohesion in established and newly resettled communities. Both communities are part of a land distribution project. The project participants all signed up voluntarily, and their socio-demographic attributes and pre-existing network ties are similar. We use a version of the 'solidarity game' to identify the effect of voluntary resettlement on willingness to help fellow villagers after an income shock. We find a sizeable reduction in willingness to help others. Resettled players transfer on average between 47% and 74% less money than non-resettled players. The effect remains large and significant after controlling for personal network and when controlling for differences in transfer expectations. The costs of voluntary resettlement, not only monetary but also social, seem significantly higher than is commonly assumed by development planners.

Keywords: Voluntary resettlement; Social cohesion; Risk-sharing networks; Monetary transfers; 'Lab-in-the-field' experiment; Cambodia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 O15 O22 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48
Date: 2013-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cwa, nep-dem, nep-exp, nep-sea, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Playing with the Social Network: Social Cohesion in Resettled and Non-Resettled Communities in Cambodia (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inn:wpaper:2013-16

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