IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aajs14/166115.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of Peers on Agricultural Productivity in Rural Northern India

Author

Listed:
  • Songsermsawas, Tisorn
  • Baylis, Katherine R.
  • Chhatre, Ashwini

Abstract

Using a unique dataset from a household survey containing explicit social relationships among individual farmers, this study estimate the effect of peers on the revenue from cash crop sales among small-scale farmers in Northern India. We explore the learning mechanism through which peer effect occurs through improved input use and higher degree of commercialization. The significant and positive peer effects support the evidence of social learning. We control for the reflection problem using the technique proposed by Bramoulle, Djebbari, and Fortin (2009). Additionally, the positive evidence of peer effects do not disappear when we alter the definition of peers.

Suggested Citation

  • Songsermsawas, Tisorn & Baylis, Katherine R. & Chhatre, Ashwini, 2014. "Effects of Peers on Agricultural Productivity in Rural Northern India," 2014 AAEA/EAAE/CAES Joint Symposium: Social Networks, Social Media and the Economics of Food, May 29-30, 2014, Montreal, Canada 166115, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aajs14:166115
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.166115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/166115/files/Songsermsawas_JointSymposiumR.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.166115?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. De Weerdt, Joachim & Dercon, Stefan, 2006. "Risk-sharing networks and insurance against illness," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 337-356, December.
    2. Awudu Abdulai & Wallace E. Huffman, 2005. "The Diffusion of New Agricultural Technologies: The Case of Crossbred-Cow Technology in Tanzania," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 645-659.
    3. Esther Duflo & Michael Kremer & Jonathan Robinson, 2008. "How High Are Rates of Return to Fertilizer? Evidence from Field Experiments in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 482-488, May.
    4. Michael Kremer & Edward Miguel, 2007. "The Illusion of Sustainability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1007-1065.
    5. Birkhaeuser, Dean & Evenson, Robert E & Feder, Gershon, 1991. "The Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension: A Review," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 607-650, April.
    6. Katleen Van den Broeck & Stefan Dercon, 2011. "Information Flows and Social Externalities in a Tanzanian Banana Growing Village," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 231-252.
    7. Bramoullé, Yann & Djebbari, Habiba & Fortin, Bernard, 2009. "Identification of peer effects through social networks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 41-55, May.
    8. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1995. "Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1176-1209, December.
    9. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2011. "Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1739-1774, August.
    10. Anselin, Luc, 1988. "A test for spatial autocorrelation in seemingly unrelated regressions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 335-341.
    11. Fafchamps, Marcel & Minten, Bart, 2001. "Property Rights in a Flea Market Economy," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(2), pages 229-67, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lili Geng & Yongji Xue, 2023. "Promoting ICT adoption in rural entrepreneurship: more neighbourhood effect or more institutional incentives?—Empirical evidence from China," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 1530-1548, August.
    2. Zhen Cai & Ranjith P. Udawatta & Clark J. Gantzer & Shibu Jose & Larry Godsey & Lauren Cartwright, 2019. "Economic Impacts of Cover Crops for a Missouri Wheat–Corn–Soybean Rotation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-13, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tisorn Songsermsawas & Kathy Baylis & Ashwini Chhatre & Hope Michelson, 2014. "Can Peers Improve Agricultural Productivity?," CESifo Working Paper Series 4958, CESifo.
    2. Songsermsawas, Tisorn & Baylis, Kathy & Chhatre, Ashwini & Michelson, Hope, 2016. "Can Peers Improve Agricultural Revenue?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 163-178.
    3. Lim, Krisha & Wichmann, Bruno & Luckert, Martin, 2021. "Adaptation, spatial effects, and targeting: Evidence from Africa and Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Kandpal, Eeshani & Baylis, Kathy, 2019. "The social lives of married women: Peer effects in female autonomy and investments in children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 26-43.
    5. Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew & Gerber, Nicolas & Matz, Julia Anna, 2018. "Gendered Social Networks, Agricultural Innovations, and Farm Productivity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 321-335.
    6. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie, 2012. "Seeing is Believing? Evidence from a Demonstration Plot Experiment in Mozambique:," MSSP working papers 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Mekonnen Daniel Ayalew & Gerber Nicolas & Matz Julia Anna, 2016. "Working Paper 235 - Social Networks, Agricultural Innovations, and Farm Productivity in Ethiopia," Working Paper Series 2330, African Development Bank.
    10. Margherita Comola & Mariapia Mendola, 2015. "Formation of Migrant Networks," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 592-618, April.
    11. Margherita Comola & Carla Inguaggiato & Mariapia Mendola, 2021. "Learning about Farming: Innovation and Social Networks in a Resettled Community in Brazil," Development Working Papers 468, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    12. Songsermsawas, Tisorn & Baylis, Kathy & Chhatre, Ashwini & Michelson, Hope & Prasanna, Satya, 2015. "Friends or traders? Do social networks explain the use of market mechanisms by farmers in India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211206, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Dev, Pritha, 2018. "Networks of information exchange: Are link formation decisions strategic?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 86-92.
    14. Sene, Ligane Massamba, 2015. "Connectivity as engine for productivity among smallholder peanut farmers in Senegal," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212263, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. A. Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps, 2015. "Can Farmers Create Efficient Information Networks? Experimental Evidence from Rural India," CSAE Working Paper Series 2015-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    16. Barham, Bradford L. & Chavas, Jean-Paul & Fitz, Dylan & Schechter, Laura, 2018. "Receptiveness to advice, cognitive ability, and technology adoption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 239-268.
    17. Jackering, L. & Fongar, A. & Godecke, T. & Mbugua, M. & Njuguna, M. & Ogutu, S. & Wollni, M., 2018. "Communication Networks and the Adoption of Technologies: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277540, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Feng, Yao, 2011. "Local spillovers and learning from neighbors: Evidence from durable adoptions in rural China," MPRA Paper 33924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. SHIMAMOTO Daichi & Yu Ri KIM & TODO Yasuyuki, 2019. "The Effect of Social Interactions on Exporting Activities: Evidence from Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in rural Vietnam," Discussion papers 19020, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Ariel BenYishay & A. Mushfiq Mobarak, 2014. "Social Learning and Communication," NBER Working Papers 20139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Consumer/Household Economics;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aajs14:166115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.