Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
By surveying the latest literature, this chapter aims to contribute to the recent discussion on t... more By surveying the latest literature, this chapter aims to contribute to the recent discussion on the successes and failures of microfinance. We argue that the question “does microfinance work?” is neither important nor informative. What matters is knowing when, and in which conditions, microfinance works—and for whom. We claim that the answers to these questions depend on the details of the microcredit contract as well as on the range of services that microfinance institutions provide (including non-financial ones). We point at two important reasons why the impact of several microcredit programs is lower than expected: (1) the rigidness of credit contracts, and (2) the human capital of end-users. As reforming contract terms and building human capital via business training and technical assistance are costly, we argue that perhaps subsidies are needed. We focus on studies dealing with end-users, and pay specific attention to the evolving discussion on group lending and the role of joint liability to reduce asymmetric information problems and improve repayment rates. We also discuss the literature focusing on the recent shift of several microfinance institutions to individual lending, and the related trend toward commercialization of microfinance.
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Mar 1, 2006
General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public port... more General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.-Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research-You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain-You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
We study the impact of endowments and expectations on reference point formation and measure the v... more We study the impact of endowments and expectations on reference point formation and measure the value of food safety certification in the context of fish trading on real markets in Nigeria. In our field experiment, consumers can trade a known food item for a novel food item that is superior in terms of food safety––or vice versa. Endowments matter for reference point formation, but we also document a reverse endowment effect for a subsample of respondents. The effect of expectations about future ownership is weak and mixed. While expectations seem to affect bidding behavior for subjects “trading up” to obtain the certified food product (a marginally significant effect), it does not affect bids for subjects “trading down” to give up this novel food item. Finally, willingness to pay for safety certified food is large for our respondents—our estimate of the premium is bounded between 37 and 53% of the price of conventional, uncertified food.
Social scientists have recently explored how framing of gains and losses affects productivity. We... more Social scientists have recently explored how framing of gains and losses affects productivity. We conducted a field experiment in peri-urban Uganda, and compared output levels across 1,000 workers over isomorphic tasks and incentives, framed as either losses or gains. We find that loss aversion can be leveraged to increase the productivity of labour. The estimated welfare costs of using the loss contract are quite modest-perhaps because the loss contract is viewed as a (soft) commitment device.
Abstract: We use experimental data from 35 randomly selected communities in Burundi to examine th... more Abstract: We use experimental data from 35 randomly selected communities in Burundi to examine the impact of exposure to conflict on social-, risk- and time preferences. These types of preferences are important as they determine people’s propensity to invest and their ability to overcome social dilemmas, so that changes therein foster or hinder economic growth. We find that conflict affects preferences. Individuals that have been exposed to greater levels of violence display more altruistic behavior towards their neighbors, are more risk seeking, and have higher discount rates. Adverse, but temporary, shocks can thus alter savings and investments decisions, and potentially have long-run consequences.
This chapter provides a short review of current debates about institutions, focusing on the econo... more This chapter provides a short review of current debates about institutions, focusing on the economist’s and the anthropologist’s perspective. We start with narratives by economists on the origins and evolution of institutions (e.g. transaction costs and efficiency, the struggle between different social groups). We then augment the conventional focus on markets and hierarchy (Oliver Williamson) by introducing a four-field framework for analysing institutions, which is developed along two axes: the group—and the grid dimension. This framework, proposed by Douglas, has gained little traction in economics until now, but we show how it can be useful to understand institutional dynamics in rural development in West Africa.
We present results of a randomized evaluation that assesses the effects of different incentives f... more We present results of a randomized evaluation that assesses the effects of different incentives for diffusion of agricultural knowledge by smallholders in northern Uganda. Randomly‐selected disseminating farmers (DFs) from a large sample of villages are assigned to one of three experimental arms: (a) training about climate smart agriculture, (b) training plus a material reward for knowledge diffusion, and (c) training plus a reputational gain for knowledge diffusion. We find that leveraging somebody's reputation (or social recognition) has a positive impact on DFs' experimentation and diffusion effort. This impact is stronger than that measured in the private material rewards treatment.
Unconditional conservation payments are increasingly used by non‐governmental conservation organi... more Unconditional conservation payments are increasingly used by non‐governmental conservation organizations to further their environmental objectives. One key objective in many conservation projects that use such unconditional payments schemes is the protection of tropical forest ecosystems in buffer zone areas around protected parks where the scope of instating mandatory restrictions is more limited. We use a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of unconditional livelihood payments to local communities on land use outside a protected area—the Gola Rainforest National Park—which is a biodiversity hotspot on the border of Sierra Leone and Liberia. High resolution RapidEye satellite imagery from before and after the intervention was used to determine land use changes in treated and control villages. We find support for the hypothesis that unconditional payments, in this setting, increase land clearance in the short run. The study constitutes one of the first attempts to use...
These results should be informative to a policymaker who is trying to decide how to implement a l... more These results should be informative to a policymaker who is trying to decide how to implement a livelihood support program. It sheds light on the trade-offs the policymaker must weigh when designing such a program. We hope this research project leads to better understanding and research on the social dimensions of aid dispersion.
Intimate partner violence is an important global health problem that policy makers seek to addres... more Intimate partner violence is an important global health problem that policy makers seek to address by a variety of interventions, including efforts to promote "women's empowerment." We use data from a randomized control trial in Vietnam and find that this strategy may backfire: women who participated in a gender and entrepreneurship training program suffer more frequent abuse than women in the control group. We conjecture that increased female income is the mechanism linking the training program to domestic violence. We also make a methodological contribution and show that the outcomes of our impact analysis depend on how we measure intimate partner violence.
In this paper we use a novel and extensive dataset to explore the association between different f... more In this paper we use a novel and extensive dataset to explore the association between different forms of social capital and innovation in agriculture, for a sample of African countries. We find mixed evidence. While structural social capital, especially in the form of connections beyond the village, is associated with more extensive adoption of innovations, the reverse is true for cognitive social capital (capturing shared norms and trust within the local community).
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
By surveying the latest literature, this chapter aims to contribute to the recent discussion on t... more By surveying the latest literature, this chapter aims to contribute to the recent discussion on the successes and failures of microfinance. We argue that the question “does microfinance work?” is neither important nor informative. What matters is knowing when, and in which conditions, microfinance works—and for whom. We claim that the answers to these questions depend on the details of the microcredit contract as well as on the range of services that microfinance institutions provide (including non-financial ones). We point at two important reasons why the impact of several microcredit programs is lower than expected: (1) the rigidness of credit contracts, and (2) the human capital of end-users. As reforming contract terms and building human capital via business training and technical assistance are costly, we argue that perhaps subsidies are needed. We focus on studies dealing with end-users, and pay specific attention to the evolving discussion on group lending and the role of joint liability to reduce asymmetric information problems and improve repayment rates. We also discuss the literature focusing on the recent shift of several microfinance institutions to individual lending, and the related trend toward commercialization of microfinance.
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Mar 1, 2006
General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public port... more General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.-Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research-You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain-You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
We study the impact of endowments and expectations on reference point formation and measure the v... more We study the impact of endowments and expectations on reference point formation and measure the value of food safety certification in the context of fish trading on real markets in Nigeria. In our field experiment, consumers can trade a known food item for a novel food item that is superior in terms of food safety––or vice versa. Endowments matter for reference point formation, but we also document a reverse endowment effect for a subsample of respondents. The effect of expectations about future ownership is weak and mixed. While expectations seem to affect bidding behavior for subjects “trading up” to obtain the certified food product (a marginally significant effect), it does not affect bids for subjects “trading down” to give up this novel food item. Finally, willingness to pay for safety certified food is large for our respondents—our estimate of the premium is bounded between 37 and 53% of the price of conventional, uncertified food.
Social scientists have recently explored how framing of gains and losses affects productivity. We... more Social scientists have recently explored how framing of gains and losses affects productivity. We conducted a field experiment in peri-urban Uganda, and compared output levels across 1,000 workers over isomorphic tasks and incentives, framed as either losses or gains. We find that loss aversion can be leveraged to increase the productivity of labour. The estimated welfare costs of using the loss contract are quite modest-perhaps because the loss contract is viewed as a (soft) commitment device.
Abstract: We use experimental data from 35 randomly selected communities in Burundi to examine th... more Abstract: We use experimental data from 35 randomly selected communities in Burundi to examine the impact of exposure to conflict on social-, risk- and time preferences. These types of preferences are important as they determine people’s propensity to invest and their ability to overcome social dilemmas, so that changes therein foster or hinder economic growth. We find that conflict affects preferences. Individuals that have been exposed to greater levels of violence display more altruistic behavior towards their neighbors, are more risk seeking, and have higher discount rates. Adverse, but temporary, shocks can thus alter savings and investments decisions, and potentially have long-run consequences.
This chapter provides a short review of current debates about institutions, focusing on the econo... more This chapter provides a short review of current debates about institutions, focusing on the economist’s and the anthropologist’s perspective. We start with narratives by economists on the origins and evolution of institutions (e.g. transaction costs and efficiency, the struggle between different social groups). We then augment the conventional focus on markets and hierarchy (Oliver Williamson) by introducing a four-field framework for analysing institutions, which is developed along two axes: the group—and the grid dimension. This framework, proposed by Douglas, has gained little traction in economics until now, but we show how it can be useful to understand institutional dynamics in rural development in West Africa.
We present results of a randomized evaluation that assesses the effects of different incentives f... more We present results of a randomized evaluation that assesses the effects of different incentives for diffusion of agricultural knowledge by smallholders in northern Uganda. Randomly‐selected disseminating farmers (DFs) from a large sample of villages are assigned to one of three experimental arms: (a) training about climate smart agriculture, (b) training plus a material reward for knowledge diffusion, and (c) training plus a reputational gain for knowledge diffusion. We find that leveraging somebody's reputation (or social recognition) has a positive impact on DFs' experimentation and diffusion effort. This impact is stronger than that measured in the private material rewards treatment.
Unconditional conservation payments are increasingly used by non‐governmental conservation organi... more Unconditional conservation payments are increasingly used by non‐governmental conservation organizations to further their environmental objectives. One key objective in many conservation projects that use such unconditional payments schemes is the protection of tropical forest ecosystems in buffer zone areas around protected parks where the scope of instating mandatory restrictions is more limited. We use a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of unconditional livelihood payments to local communities on land use outside a protected area—the Gola Rainforest National Park—which is a biodiversity hotspot on the border of Sierra Leone and Liberia. High resolution RapidEye satellite imagery from before and after the intervention was used to determine land use changes in treated and control villages. We find support for the hypothesis that unconditional payments, in this setting, increase land clearance in the short run. The study constitutes one of the first attempts to use...
These results should be informative to a policymaker who is trying to decide how to implement a l... more These results should be informative to a policymaker who is trying to decide how to implement a livelihood support program. It sheds light on the trade-offs the policymaker must weigh when designing such a program. We hope this research project leads to better understanding and research on the social dimensions of aid dispersion.
Intimate partner violence is an important global health problem that policy makers seek to addres... more Intimate partner violence is an important global health problem that policy makers seek to address by a variety of interventions, including efforts to promote "women's empowerment." We use data from a randomized control trial in Vietnam and find that this strategy may backfire: women who participated in a gender and entrepreneurship training program suffer more frequent abuse than women in the control group. We conjecture that increased female income is the mechanism linking the training program to domestic violence. We also make a methodological contribution and show that the outcomes of our impact analysis depend on how we measure intimate partner violence.
In this paper we use a novel and extensive dataset to explore the association between different f... more In this paper we use a novel and extensive dataset to explore the association between different forms of social capital and innovation in agriculture, for a sample of African countries. We find mixed evidence. While structural social capital, especially in the form of connections beyond the village, is associated with more extensive adoption of innovations, the reverse is true for cognitive social capital (capturing shared norms and trust within the local community).
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