Doctoral Dissertation Research: Risk Sharing and Social Networks in Village Ghana: Experimental Evidence

目标和方法本项目的目标是研究社会网络在促进加纳农村村庄内分担风险方面的作用。在这项拟议的研究中，将进行一项随机实验，以揭示个人如何分享意外意外之财。这项实验将是对加纳南部四个农村村庄的调查的附加模块，将于2009年1月至12月与ISSER(一家加纳研究机构)合作进行。在今年年初，将收集关于每个村庄个人之间关系强度的信息，并将根据这些信息构建四个村庄社会网络的详细地图。在随后的几轮调查中，将以现金和实物奖品的形式向随机抽取的受访者分配积极的冲击。其中一些拨款将公开进行，另一些将私下进行。然后将收集关于每个受访者的支出、转移和贷款以及转移和贷款伙伴身份的数据。对这些数据的计量经济学分析将产生一幅随机积极冲击如何通过社会网络传播的详细图景。研究结果将对社会关系和经济支持之间的联系、家庭内部资源配置以及个体特征对转移行为的影响提供深入的见解。作者还将能够测试冲击的性质(现金或实物)及其宣传程度是否会影响与他人分享的程度。拟议活动的智力价值先前对贫困农村的风险应对机制进行的计量分析与报告的历史冲击有关，如农作物损失或被盗。这类事件可以说是非随机的，具有潜在的偏见。此外，由于往往很难为历史事件分配现金价值，这些研究一直无法量化转移对冲击的反应。该项目将是第一个在村庄环境中对风险应对机制进行随机测试的项目。随机化冲击的发生消除了偏见的问题。该项目还提供了许多其他新颖的贡献。根据村内关系数据构建的详细社会网络图将用于检查关系强度和转移规模之间的联系。通过实验控制奖品的价值、形式和宣传，作者将能够估计转移对冲击的比例反应，测试资源是否可替代，并确定社会压力是否影响意外之财的分享。该项目还将对有关家庭内部分配的文献作出新的贡献。由于观察的单位将是个人而不是家庭，并将礼物分配给个人，因此将有可能检验关于家庭内部分配的假设，同时避免内部因素的复杂情况。拟议活动产生的广泛影响这项研究的结果将特别引起对发展感兴趣的政府和非政府组织的兴趣。项目完成后，和平倡议和共同和平倡议将与加纳的非政府组织和政府机构一起举办讲习班，介绍研究结果。还将编写一份研究简报，并将其分发给美国的各种发展从业者组织。合作小组将在每个村庄举行信息交流会，以非技术术语向村民解释项目的结果。国际和平协会和联合国际组织还将向美国的K-12学校观众发表演讲，分享S项目的一些成果和对发展中国家农村生活的见解

Objective and methodsThe goal of this project is to examine the role of social networks in facilitating risk-sharing within villages in rural Ghana. In the proposed study, a randomized experiment will be conducted to shed light on how individuals share unexpected windfalls. The experiment will be an add-on module to a survey of four rural villages in southern Ghana, to be conducted in collaboration with ISSER (a Ghanaian research institute) between January and December 2009. At the start of the year, information will be collected on the strength of relationships between the individuals in each village, from which detailed maps of the four village social networks will be constructed. In subsequent survey rounds, positive shocks will be assigned to randomly selected respondents in the form of cash and in-kind prizes. Some of the allocations will be made publicly and others privately. Data will then be collected on each respondent's expenditures, transfers and loans, and on the identities of transfer and loan partners. Econometric analysis of these data will yield a detailed picture of how the random positive shocks are disseminated through the social network. The results will provide insights into the connection between social relationships and financial support, the intrahousehold allocation of resources, and the effect of individual characteristics on transfer behavior. The authors will also be able to test whether the nature of the shock (cash or in-kind) and its level of publicity affect the extent to which it is shared with others.Intellectual merit of the proposed activityPrevious econometric analyses of risk-coping mechanisms in poor rural villages have related transfers to reported historical shocks, such as crop loss or theft. Such events are arguably non-random, potentially biasing inferences. Furthermore, since it is often difficult to assign cash values to historical events, these studies have been unable to quantify the responsiveness of transfers to shocks. This project would be the first to conduct a randomized test of risk-coping mechanisms in a village setting. Randomizing the incidence of shocks eliminates the problem of bias. The project offers a number of other novel contributions. A detailed social network map constructed from data on intra-village relationships will be used to examine the connection between relationship strength and the size of transfers. By experimentally controlling the value, form and publicity of the prizes, the authors will be able to estimate the proportional response of transfers to shocks, test whether resources are fungible, and determine whether social pressures affect the sharing of windfalls. The project will also make a novel contribution to the literature on intrahousehold allocation. Since the unit of observation will be the individual rather than the household, and gifts assigned to individuals, it will be possible to test hypotheses about intrahousehold allocation while avoiding complications of endogeneity.Broader impacts resulting from the proposed activityThe findings of this study will be of particular interest to governmental and non-governmental organizations interested in development. When the project is complete, the PI and Co-PI will organize workshops with NGOs and government bodies in Ghana to present the study's findings. A research brief will also be prepared and disseminated to various development practitioner organizations in the United States. The Co-PI will hold information sessions in each of the villages to explain the findings of the project to the villagers in non-technical terms. The PI and Co-PI will also give presentations to K-12 school audiences in the United States, to share some of the project?s outcomes and insights into village life in a developing country