Collaborative Research: Informal Networks and Economic Development

经济学文献表明，任何互助安排都存在执行问题。然而，很少有经验证据表明这些问题对经济发展的影响。本研究将研究非正式网络对经济发展的影响以及经济发展对网络的影响。本研究项目将使用两个独特的数据集来描述过去三十年来印度城市和农村亚种姓群体之间和内部的家庭行为，对发展中经济体中非正式网络的作用进行建模和量化。具体而言，该研究将研究劳动力市场网络如何影响印度孟买的学校教育决策，由于印度20世纪90年代的经济改革，英语教育的回报大幅上升，以及农村网络的绩效和可行性如何受到印度绿色革命引发的经济增长的影响。这项研究将确定(i)网络在多大程度上减少信贷、保险和劳动力市场的不完善，并改变经济发展的动力；（二）破坏网络，危害社会保险的因素；（三）网络对经济流动性和技术采用的限制。本研究将使用次种姓数据构建网络边界，使用地理编码的家庭和村庄数据，以更好地评估当地事件的空间影响。次种姓数据可以比以前的工作更精确地识别网络效应。次种姓成员也允许调查不同市场网络之间的表现差异，包括劳动力和信贷市场。该研究还研究了网络的成本——不同网络中个体成员之间相互作用的限制

The economics literature indicates the existence of enforcement problems in any mutual assistance arrangement. However, there is little empirical evidence on the consequences of such problems on economic development. This research will study the effects of informal networks on economic development and the effects of economic development on networks.This research project will model and quantify the role of informal networks in developing economies using two unique data sets describing household behavior across and within sub-caste groups in urban and rural India over the past three decades. Specifically, particular, the research will examine how labor-market networks shape schooling decisions in Mumbai, India where the returns to English language schooling have risen substantially due to the Indian economic reforms of the 1990's, and how rural network performance and viability, have been affected by the economic growth induced by the Indian green revolution. The research will identify (i) the extent to which networks reduce imperfections in credit, insurance and labor markets and change the dynamics of economic development; (ii) factors that break down networks thus and jeopardize social insurance; and (iii) constraints imposed by networks on economic mobility and technology adoption.This research will use sub-caste data to construct the boundaries of networks using geo-coded household and village data to better assess the spatial impacts of local events. Sub-caste data enables the identification of network effects in a much more precise way than in prior work. Sub-caste membership also permits the investigation of performance differences among networks in different markets, including labor and credit markets. The research also studies the costs of networks--- restrictions on interactions between individual members of different networks