SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Antoci, Angelo; Sabatini, Fabio; Sodini, Mauro.

This paper addresses two hot topics of the contemporary debate, social capital and economic growth. Our theoretical analysis sheds light on decisive but so far neglected issues: how does social capital accumulate over time? Which is the relationship between social capital, technical progress and economic growth in the long run? The analysis shows that the economy may be attracted by alternative steady states, depending on the initial social capital endowments and cultural exogenous parameters representing the relevance of social interaction and trust in well-being and production. When material consumption and relational goods are substitutable, the choice to devote more and more time to private activities may lead the economy to a “social poverty trap”,...

The Impact of Social Capital on Economic Performance of Agricultural Producers in the Czech Republic

Palavras-chave: Economic Growth; Technical Progress; Social Interactions; Social Capital; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; A13; D03; O43; Z13.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/50401

Wolz, Axel; Fritzsch, Jana; Pencakova, Jitka.

In the Czech Republic, agricultural production is still dominated by corporate farms. Private farms have been established since the change of the political regime, but their role is not that relevant as originally anticipated. Among both groups, some have been economically more successful than others. In general, a varying adoption of pr oduction factors is identified as being of influence. Whether their ability to collaborate with other farms is an additional factor which has been discussed under the concept of social capital since quite some time will be analyzed in this paper. Based on the findings of a survey among a sample of 62 farms by adopting factor and multiple regression analysis it can be deduced that social capital is indeed a significant...

Investing in Livestock Development in Water-Scarce Semi-Arid Watersheds: Technological, Institutional and Policy Dimensions

Palavras-chave: Corporate farms; Private farms; Social capital; Cross sectional models; Czech Republic; Farm Management; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; C21; P0; Q12; Z13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25767

Puskur, Ranjitha.

Watershed Development Programmes (WDPs) in India were conceived as tools for correcting the regional imbalances in agricultural development created by Green Revolution, through investments in soil and water conservation (SWC) and natural resource management (NRM) in rainfed areas. Though the overall impact of WDPs has been positive and significant, with increase in physical and economic access to groundwater, landless and marginal households hardly benefited from watershed development. Recent evidence points out that in many watersheds inequities increased, since for non-land owning and -well owning households access to drinking water, grazing lands and other natural resources decreased. This paper is based on a research project carried out by the...

Does Social Capital Mitigate Precariousness?

Palavras-chave: Watersheds; Livestock; Environment; Livelihoods; Markets; Services; Livestock Production/Industries; O13; Q56; Z13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25724

Sabatini, Fabio.

There is a surprising gap in the economic literature on social capital. First, we lack studies addressing the effects of social capital on those facets of development that can contribute in making growth more sustainable in the long run, like, for example, human development and social cohesion. Second, it is still unclear what type of networks may exert a positive effect on the different dimensions of development. In particular, the literature has not yet provided a rigorous assessment of the role of strong family ties, that are generally referred to as a form of bonding social capital causing backwardness. This paper carries out an empirical investigation into the relationship between the three types of social capital so far identified by the literature...

Social Connections and Group Banking

Palavras-chave: Social capital; Human development; Labour market; Precariousness; Italy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Labor and Human Capital; Risk and Uncertainty; J24; O15; Z13.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6358

Karlan, Dean S..

Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully monitoring and enforcing joint-liability loans. Individuals with stronger social connections to their fellow group members (i.e., either living closer or being of a similar culture) have higher repayment and higher savings. Furthermore, I observe direct evidence that relationships deteriorate after default, and that through successful monitoring, individuals know who to punish and who not to punish after default.

Gender Issue and Water Management in the Mediterranean Basin, Middle East and North Africa

Palavras-chave: Microfinance; Group lending; Informal savings; Social capital; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; O12; O16; O17; Z13.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28522

Minoia, Giulia.

This article aims to investigate some aspects of the social process related to water resources management and gender relations. Given that gender and water management are interrelated issues exposed to a growing attention at the international level, it is therefore necessary to identify relations between the academic literature, the institutional framework and the field-based research. This document has been inspired by the Nostrum DSS project (Network on Governance, Science and Technology for Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Mediterranean), a Co-ordination Action funded by the European Commission, which involves eighteen partners from the North and South shores of the basin. As the scope of the project is to disseminate Best Practice...

Trust and Control Dynamics in Agrifood Supply Networks: Communication Strategies for Electronic Transaction Environments

Palavras-chave: Irrigation; Gender; Regional Development Policy; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; J16; Z13.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/9556

Fritz, Melanie; Hausen, Tobias.

Agrifood supply networks are dynamic structures where firms regularly face the need to search for new market partners. A decision for a transaction with a new partner requires the existence of appropriate control and safeguard mechanisms as well as trust to overcome perceived risk and uncertainties. Electronic transaction environments offer new potentials for the identification of new transaction partners. However, trust and control need to be communicated appropriately in electronic transaction environments for agrifood supply network scenarios. Problems for appropriate communication are posed by the complex interrelation between trust and control in transaction processes and their dynamically changing importance in a transaction relation. This paper...

Does Social Capital Create Trust? Evidence from a Community of Entrepreneurs

Palavras-chave: Agricultural Markets Marketing; Marketing; Technological Change; Social Norms; Social Capital; E-Commerce; Industrial Organization; Marketing; Q13; O3; Z13; L81.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25509

Sabatini, Fabio.

Which kind of social capital fosters the diffusion of development-oriented trust? This paper carries out an empirical investigation into the causal relationships connecting four types of social capital (i.e. bonding, bridging, linking, and corporate), and different forms of trust (knowledge-based trust, social trust, trust towards public services and political institutions), in a community of entrepreneurs located in the Italian industrial district of the Tuscia. Our results suggest that the main factors fostering the diffusion of social trust among entrepreneurs are the perception that the local community is a safe place, and the establishment of corporate ties through professional associations. Trust in people is positively and significantly correlated...

The Impact of Social Capital on Agricultural Income Among Corporate Farms in the Czech Republic

Palavras-chave: Trust; Social capital; Safety; Professional associations; Entrepreneurship; Corporate ties; Group and Interpersonal Processes; Social Perception and Cognition; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; J24; O15; Z13.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/52340

Wolz, Axel; Fritzsch, Jana; Reinsberg, Klaus.

In the Czech Republic, agricultural production is still dominated by corporate farms. However, not all of them had been equally successful, economically. In general, a varying adoption of production factors is identified as being of influence. Whether their ability to collaborate with other farms is an additional factor which has been discussed under the concept of social capital since quite some time will be analysed in this paper. Based on the findings of a survey among a sample of 166 corporate farms by adopting factor and multiple regression analysis it can be deduced that social capital is indeed a significant factor determining the level of agricultural income.

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CURRENT STATE OF THE ART

Palavras-chave: Corporate farms; Social capital; Cross sectional models; Czech Republic; Agribusiness; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; C31; P32; Q12; Z13.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/24695

Dufhues, Thomas; Buchenrieder, Gertrud; Fischer, Isabel.

Social capital has been recently held up as a conceptual framework to build a bridge between the diverse disciplines involved in rural development. However, despite its potential and the impressively rapid take-up of the concept by the community of development professionals, it remains an elusive construct. No definition is yet generally accepted and many definitions are in use. Recently, social capital in the form of social networks has gained much attention in rural development theory and empirical research. But social networks or structural components of social capital are a largely missing dimension in income and poverty analysis. Moreover, most research on social capital assumes that it is a uniform entity. Therefore, the effects of different forms of...

Informal Insurance in the Presence of Poverty Traps: Evidence from Southern Ethiopia

Palavras-chave: Sozialkapital; Individuelles Sozialkapital; Sozialkapitalmessung; Ego-zentriertes Netzwerk; Soziale Netzwerke; Social capital; Individual social capital; Measuring social capital; Ego-network; Social networks; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Labor and Human Capital; D85; Z13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/92017

Santos, Paulo; Barrett, Christopher B..

Fieldwork for this paper was conducted under the Pastoral Risk Management (PARIMA) project of the Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program (GL CRSP), funded by the Office of Agriculture and Food Security, Global Bureau, USAID, under grant number DAN-1328-G-00-0046-00, and analysis was underwritten by the USAID SAGA cooperative agreement, grant number HFM-A-00-01-00132-00. Financial support was also provided by the Social Science Research Council's Program in Applied Economics on Risk and Development (through a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation), The Pew Charitable Trusts (through the Christian Scholars Program of the University of Notre Dame), the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), and the Graduate...

Identifying the Factors that Influence Small-scale Farmers Transaction Costs in Relation to Seed Acquisition - An ethnographic case study of maize growing smallholders in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico

Palavras-chave: Risk; Informal insurance; Social networks; Poverty traps; Ethiopia; Risk and Uncertainty; Z13; I3; O13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25487

Badstue, Lone B..

Using an ethnographic approach, this study explores small-scale farmers perceived transaction costs in relation to maize seed acquisition in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. These farmers have different needs and require seed of diverse maize types with multiple traits in particular combinations. Formal seed distribution has yet to develop in this region and farmers depend mostly on informal seed sources. Issues of information about maize seed, seed transaction negotiation and enforcement are examined from a small-scale farmer perspective through the use of qualitative data. Results show that farmers perceived transaction costs are low to negligible in most cases where seed transactions take place locally, and trust is indicated as a factor which serves to...

Bilingualism and Communicative Benefits

Palavras-chave: Small-scale farmers; Transaction costs; Seed acquisitions; Maize (Zea mays L.); Informal seed sector; Oaxaca; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; D23; O17; Q12; Z13.

Ano: 2004

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/23800

Gabszewicz, Jean; Ginsburgh, Victor; Weber, Shlomo.

We examine patterns of acquiring non-native languages in a model with two languages and two populations with heterogeneous learning skills, where every individual faces a binary choice of learning the foreign language or refraining from doing so. We show that both interior and corner linguistic equilibria can emerge in our framework, and that the fraction of learners of the foreign language is higher in the country with a higher gross cost adjusted communicative benefit. It turns out that this observation is consistent with the data on language proficiency in bilingual countries such as Belgium and Canada. We also point out that linguistic equilibria can exhibit insufficient learning which opens the door for government policies that are beneficial for both...

Asthma Management Survey of Participants in an Inner City Asthma Intervention

Palavras-chave: Communicative Benefits; Linguistic Equilibrium; Learning Costs; Labor and Human Capital; C72; D83; O52; Z13.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6380

Sadof, Matthew; Brandt, Sylvia J..

Background: The Inner City Asthma Intervention (ICAI) was a national multi-center implementation of an evidence-based intervention to reduce asthma morbidity. Objective: This study describes mitigating behaviors and reported outcomes in families with asthma who completed the intervention and a post-intervention survey at one of the ICAI sites. Results: Eighty percent (0.72- 0.88, 95% confidence interval) of these families made five or more changes to mitigate exposure to environmental asthma triggers. The majority of families (0.84-0.96, 95% confidence interval) reported an improved awareness of asthma symptoms and less school absences, limitations of activity, unplanned doctor visits, and asthma related sleep disruption.

Explaining the Conversion to Organic Farming of Farmers of the Obwalden Canton, Switzerland - Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior within a Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Palavras-chave: Asthma; Health intervention; Health behavior; Health Economics and Policy; I12; I18; Z13.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/14526

Tutkun, Aysel; Lehmann, Bernard; Schmidt, Peter.

Farmers' decisions about conversion to organic farming are analyzed with a structural equation model. The Theory of Planned Behavior (ToPB), one of the prominent theories in the social psychology, is used as the theoretical basis of this study. Though ToPB is a well-defined theory, it is static rather than procedural and cannot model the individual decision-making as a process. Therefore, we first examine the general applicability of ToPB in an agricultural context and explain the variance in intentions of farmers to convert to organic farming. Second, we extend the ToPB to make it more procedural. For this purpose, research findings from the Diffusion Theory are included as part of the behavioral model. The empirical results indicate that, overall, the...

Palavras-chave: Behavior research; Conversion to particularly animal friendly stabling system; Theory of planned behavior; Diffusion theory; Structural equation modelling; Farm Management; C8; D1; Q12; Z13.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/25313

Trust and Growth

Dincer, Oguzhan C.; Uslaner, Eric.

Using data from US states, we find a positive relationship between trust and growth. According to our results, a 10 percentage point increase in trust increases the growth rate of per capita income by 0.5 percentage point, growth rate of housing prices by 1.25 percentage points, and the growth rate of employment by 2.5 percentage points over a decade.

The Role of Customary Institutions in Managing Conflict on Grazing Land: A Study from Mieso District, Eastern Ethiopia

Palavras-chave: Trust; Economic Growth; International Development; Z13; R11.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/9094

Beyene, Fekadu.

This paper examines interethnic conflict on grazing land previously accessed as common property. The study was undertaken in Mieso District of eastern Ethiopia where two ethnic groups experience different production systems pastoral and agropastoral. Game theoretic approach and analytic narratives have been used as analytical tools. Results show that the historical change in land use by one of the ethnic groups, resource scarcity, violation of customary norms, power asymmetry and livestock raids are some of the factors that have contributed to the recurrence of the conflict. The role of raids in triggering conflict and restricting access to grazing area becomes particularly important. Socio-economic and political factors are responsible for power...

Changing Attitudes: Does Personal Experience Matter? A Structural Equilibrium Equation Modeling Approach with Panel Data

Palavras-chave: Property rights; Conflict; Grazing land; Power asymmetry; Access rights; Customary institutions; Mieso; Ethiopia; Africa; Land Economics/Use; O17; Z13; Q15.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/7703

Tutkun, Aysel.

Conversion to particularly animal-friendly stabling (PAFS) is one of the programs for which Swiss farmers receive direct payments from the government. This conversion to PAFS is analysed within a structural equation model in order to 1) review the link between intention to convert and observed conversion behavior, 2) prove the influence of personal experience on changing attitudes and norms, after having converted. The behavior model encompasses three theoretical constructs which influence the Behaviour: Attitude toward PAFS and Subjective Norm regarding PAFS, which both affect Intention to perform PAFS. Lastly, Intention influences the Behavior, i.e. observed conversion to PAFS. These variables are available for two time points, so one can...

SME Performance, Innovation and Networking Evidence on Complementarities for a Local Economic System

Palavras-chave: Attitudes; Subjective norm; Personal experience; Observed behavior; Conversion to particularly animal friendly stabling; Theory of reasoned action; Consumer/Household Economics; Livestock Production/Industries; C8; D1; Q12; Z13.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/7971

Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Mancinelli, Susanna.

The paper addresses the relevancy of networking activities and R&D as main drivers of productivity performance and ouput innovation, for small and medium enterprises (SME) playing in a local economic system. Given the intangible nature of many techno organisational innovation and networking strategies, original recent survey data for manufacturing and services are exploited. The aim is to provide new evidence on the complementarity relationships concerning different networking activities and R&D in a local SME oriented system in Northern Italy. We first introduce a methodological framework to empirically test complementarity among R&D and networking, in a discrete setting. Secondly, we consequently present empirical evidence on productivity...

Institutional Analysis of Swidden: The Case of Swiddners in Orissa

Palavras-chave: Firm Competitiveness; Innovation; R&D; Networking; Complementarity; Local Economic System; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D21; L25; O3; O14; Z13.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/9554

Jyotishi, A..

Swidden being a widespread form of land use in the tropics comprehensively defining it become a difficult task. Its characteristics embrace different types of topography, demographic feature, ethnic and ecological diversities. It also varies in terms of cropping pattern, frequency of land use, tools and methods of practice. It is argued that the institutions governing swidden are static in nature and do not adapt to the requirements of the changing ecological and social needs. This necessitates understanding what characterise institutions in a traditional swiddening society, and hence, changes in these characteristics to appreciate whether swidden is a static form of agriculture or changing over the time and space. There are a few aspects, which underscore...