Economic Organization, Efficiency and Market Failure in Households and Local Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa

撒哈拉以南非洲家庭和地方经济的经济组织、效率和市场失灵

• 批准号: 9422886
• 负责人: Christopher Udry
• 金额: $ 10.16万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-02-15 至 1998-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9422886&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Economic; Organization; Efficiency; Market; Failure

9422886 Empirical studies of consumer demand, labor supply and household production are commonly based on the premise that families behave as though they are single individuals. However, a growing number of studies have concluded that families should be modeled as the outcome of the interaction between household members with diverse preferences and resources. This project derives and tests the implications of the assumption made by virtually all models of the household that intra-family allocation is efficient. The project contains three components, concerned respectively with the economic organization of families, the market environment within which African households live, and the possible existence of community mechanisms which internalize local environmental and learning externalities in sub-Saharan Africa. Within many African households, agricultural production is carried out simultaneously on many plots controlled by different members of the household. This is an ideal environment for examining the internal organization of families, because efficiency implies that variable factors should be allocated efficiently across these plots. Preliminary results base don Burkina Faso data indicate that plots controlled by women are farmed much less intensively than similar plots within the household planted with the same crop in the same year, but controlled by men. These results, if confirmed, contradict the efficiency of resource allocation of the household. This project extends this methodology to a variety of other African contexts and examines the causes of the violation of efficiency. Theoretical research is required to establish the classes of models of the household consistent with the pattern of empirical violations of efficiency. This project also studies the existence of community mechanisms which provide incentives for individuals to engage in agricultural experimentation and internalize local environmental externalities. The current project is for short-term preliminary fieldwork in Ghana that will permit the design of the survey that will be used for extensive survey-based field research in Ghana.

9422886 对消费者需求、劳动力供给和家庭生产的实证研究通常是基于这样一个前提，即家庭的行为就像是一个单独的个体。 然而，越来越多的研究得出结论认为，家庭应被视为具有不同偏好和资源的家庭成员之间相互作用的结果。 这个项目得出并检验几乎所有家庭模型所作的假设的含义，即家庭内部分配是有效的。 该项目包括三个组成部分，分别涉及家庭的经济组织、非洲家庭所处的市场环境以及是否可能存在社区机制，将撒哈拉以南非洲的当地环境和学习外部因素内部化。 在许多非洲家庭中，农业生产是在由家庭不同成员控制的许多地块上同时进行的。 这是研究家庭内部组织的理想环境，因为效率意味着可变因素应在这些地块上有效分配。 根据布基纳法索数据得出的初步结果表明，由妇女控制的地块的耕种密度远远低于同一年由男子控制但种植相同作物的家庭内类似地块。 这些结果如果得到证实，则与家庭资源配置的效率相矛盾。 该项目将这一方法扩展到其他各种非洲背景，并研究违反效率的原因。 需要进行理论研究，以建立与违反效率的经验模式相一致的家庭模型类别。 该项目还研究是否存在鼓励个人从事农业试验和使当地环境外部因素内在化的社区机制。 目前的项目是在加纳进行短期初步实地工作，以便设计将用于在加纳进行广泛实地调查研究的调查。