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Market institutions, transaction costs, and social capital in the Ethiopian grain market:

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Author Info
Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z.
Abstract

Using a New Institutional Economics framework, this research report addresses a fundamental aspect of markets: how do buyers and sellers find each other and coordinate the transfer of goods? The report quantifies the transaction costs related to search faced by traders in Ethiopia and analyzes the role of brokers in minimizing these transaction costs. The transaction costs of market search are significant in the Ethiopian grain market. Estimated as the opportunity cost of labor time spent searching for a trading partner and the opportunity cost of holding capital fixed during that search, these costs represent one-fifth of all marketing costs. This research report demonstrates that traders minimize their transaction costs of search by using brokers, who enable them to exchange with unknown partners. The report also shows that at the level of the grain economy as a whole, brokers significantly increase the total economic welfare by enabling a more efficient allocation of search effort by traders. Thus, traders with relatively higher search efficiency and lower search costs choose to search on their own, while traders with lower search efficiency and higher search costs choose to use a broker.

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Paper provided by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in its series Research reports with number 124.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:fpr:resrep:124

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Keywords: Grain trade Ethiopia.; Institutional economics.; Grain Ethiopia Marketing.;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Nabli, Mustapha K. & Nugent, Jeffrey B., 1989. "The New Institutional Economics and its applicability to development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(9), pages 1333-1347, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Townsend, Robert M, 1978. "Intermediation with Costly Bilateral Exchange," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(3), pages 417-25, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. North, Douglass C., 1989. "Institutions and economic growth: An historical introduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(9), pages 1319-1332, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Ravallion, Martin & Dearden, Lorraine, 1988. "Social Security in a "Moral Economy": An Empirical Analysis for Java," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 36-44, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Zeller, Manfred & Ahmed, Akhter U. & Babu, Suresh Chandra & Broca, Sumiter S. & Diagne, Aliou & Sharma, Manohar, 1996. "Rural finance policies for food security of the poor," FCND discussion papers 11, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  6. Asfaw Negassa & T.S. Jayne, 1997. "The Response of Ethiopian Grain Markets to Liberalization," International Development Collaborative Working Papers ET-FSRP-WP-06, Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University. [Downloadable!]
  7. Sattinger, Michael, 1995. "Search and the Efficient Assignment of Workers to Jobs," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 36(2), pages 283-302, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Narayan, Deepa & Pritchett, Lant, 1999. "Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 871-97, July.
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  9. Yavas, Abdullah, 1992. "Marketmakers versus matchmakers," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 33-58, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. George J. Stigler, 1961. "The Economics of Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69, pages 213. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Norton, Seth W, 1992. "Transaction Costs, Telecommunications, and the Microeconomics of Macroeconomic Growth," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 175-96, October.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Diao, Xinshen & Pratt, Alejandro Nin & Ghautam, Madhur & Keough, James & Chamberlin, Jordan & You, Liangszi & Puetz, Detlev & Resnick, Danielle & Yu, Bingxin, 2005. "Growth options and poverty reduction in Ethiopia," DSGD discussion papers 20, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  2. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina N. & Mavrotas, George, 2008. "Aid Effectiveness: Looking at the Aid-Social Capital-Growth Nexus," Working Papers RP2008/75, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Byerlee, Derek & Spielman, David J. & Alemu, Dawit & Gautam, Madhur, 2007. "Policies to promote cereal intensification in Ethiopia: A review of evidence and experience," IFPRI discussion papers 707, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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