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Does Relative Position Matter in Poor Societies? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Rural Ethiopia

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  • Akay, Alpaslan
  • Martinsson, Peter
  • Medhin, Haileselassie

Abstract

We investigated attitudes toward positionality among rural farmers in northern Ethiopia, using a tailored two-part survey experiment. On average, we found positional concerns neither in income per se, nor in income from aid projects among the farmers. These results support the claim that positional concerns are correlated with absolute level of income of a country.

Suggested Citation

  • Akay, Alpaslan & Martinsson, Peter & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2010. "Does Relative Position Matter in Poor Societies? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Rural Ethiopia," RFF Working Paper Series dp-10-05-efd, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-10-05-efd
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    File URL: http://www.rff.org/RFF/Documents/EfD-DP-10-05.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethiopia; relative income; positional concern;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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