Doctoral Dissertation Research: Do Social Networks Influence Households' Human Capital Investments?

提案编号：0617793机构：MD大学公园国家科学基金项目：经济学首席研究员：Leonard， Kenneth题目：博士论文研究：社会网络影响家庭人力资本投资吗？现在人们普遍认为，社会网络是影响许多经济决策和结果的重要机构。然而，由于社会网络的内在问题，分析社会网络的因果效应是困难的。本博士论文研究将使用来自乌干达的独特数据集来调查社会网络是否影响家庭人力资本投资。乌干达叛乱对社交网络的影响因家庭流离失所的方式而异。虽然一些家庭保留了他们原来的大部分网络，但其他家庭只保留了很少的网络，与来自不同村庄的人一起搬进了营地。由于流离失所的条件不是自愿选择的，这种营地设置为分析社会网络质量对家庭人力资本投资的影响提供了一个自然的实验。本研究将收集家庭流离失所经历变化的数据，使用家庭访谈和关于营地历史和政府流离失所做法的二手来源，作为分析社会网络对人力资本投资行为影响的社会网络质量工具。数据收集与即将开始的世界粮食计划署学校供餐计划的随机试验同时进行。这个项目代表了对家庭收入的外源性冲击，家庭可以利用这些收入投资于儿童的营养。比较学龄前儿童治疗前和治疗后的人体测量z分数，可以确定哪些家庭进行了这种人力资本投资。关于社会网络质量变化的数据和来自营养实验的数据使PI能够利用两个外生变化来源来确定社会网络对人力资本投资行为的影响。确定社会网络和经济决策之间的因果关系是困难的，因为家庭社会网络的质量通常是家庭行为的内生因素。此外，确定家庭在人力资本方面的投资，而不仅仅是营养结果（投资、收入和遗传等因素的函数），也同样困难。作为第一个研究社会网络如何影响营养投资行为而不仅仅是网络对儿童营养结果的影响的人之一，本博士论文的研究将对经济科学做出重大贡献。本研究中开发的方法可以应用于在许多情况下对家庭投资的分析，在这些情况下，大量家庭流离失所，就像卡特里娜飓风那样。这项研究的结果也对政府的流离失所实践具有启示意义，这些实践旨在保护社会网络，以遏制流离失所对家庭福利的长期负面影响。这个项目提供了社会网络对投资行为的贡献的证据。本研究的结果具有普遍的发展政策意义。

Proposal No: 0617793 Institution: U of MD College Park NSF Program: ECONOMICS Principal Investigator: Leonard, Kenneth Title: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Do Social Networks Influence Households' Human Capital Investments? ABSTRACT It is now generally accepted that social networks are import institutions that influence many economic decisions and outcomes. However, analyzing the causal effects of social networks is difficult because of endogenously problems. This doctoral dissertation research will use a unique data set from Uganda to investigate whether social networks impact household investment in human capital. The effect of the Ugandan insurgency on social networks varies with the ways that households were displaced. While some households maintained much of their original networks, others moved with very little of their former network into camps with people from different villages. Since the conditions of displacement was not by choice, this camp setting provides a natural experiment for analyzing the effect of social network quality on household human capital investment. This research will collect data on the variations in household displacement experiences, using household interviews and secondary sources regarding the history of camps and government displacement practices, to instrument for social network quality in analyzing the impact of social networks on human capital investment behavior. The data collection coincides with a randomized trial of a World Food Programme school-based feeding program that begins soon. This program represents an exogenous shock to household income, which households may use to invest in children's nutrition. Comparing preschooler's pre- and post-treatment anthropometric z-scores identifies which households make this human capital investment. The data on variations in social network quality and the data from the nutrition experiment allow the PI to exploit two sources of exogenous variation to identify the effects of social networks on human-capital-investment behavior. Identifying a causal relationship between social networks and economic decision making is difficult because the quality of a household's social network is typically endogenous to household behavior. Moreover, the opportunity to identify household investment in human capital, rather than simply nutritional outcomes (a function of investment, income and genetics, among other things), is equally difficult. Being one of the first to examine how social networks impact nutritional investment behavior rather than simply networks' impact child on nutritional outcomes, this doctoral dissertation research will contribute significantly to economic science. The methodology developed in this research can be applied to the analysis of household investments in many settings where large numbers of families are displaced, as happened with hurricane Katrina. The result of this research also has implication for government displacement practices that aim to preserve social networks to curb long-term negative effects of displacement on household welfare. This project provides evidence of the contributions of social networks to investment behavior. The result of this research has development policy implications generally.