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交网络在促进加纳农村村庄内风险分担方面的作用。在这项拟议中的研究中，将进行一项随机实验，以揭示个人如何分享意外之财。这项试验将是2009年1月至12月与加纳研究所合作对加纳南部四个农村村庄进行调查的一个附加模块。在年初，将收集关于每个村庄个人之间关系强度的信息，并据此绘制四个村庄社交网络的详细地图。在随后的调查中，将以现金和实物奖品的形式向随机选择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答复者的支出、转账和贷款以及转账和贷款伙伴身份的数据。对这些数据的计量经济学分析将详细描述随机的正面冲击是如何通过社交网络传播的。研究结果将有助于深入了解社会关系和财政支持之间的联系，家庭内的资源分配，以及个人特征对转移行为的影响。作者还将能够测试是否冲击的性质（现金或实物）和它的宣传程度影响到它是与others.Intellectual价值的建议activityPrevious计量经济学分析的风险应对机制在贫困的农村村庄有相关的转移到报告的历史冲击，如作物损失或盗窃。这样的事件可以说是非随机的，潜在的偏见推断。此外，由于往往难以为历史事件确定现金价值，这些研究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。将冲击的发生率随机化可以消除偏差问题。该项目还提供了其他一些新的贡献。一个详细的社会网络地图构建的数据村内的关系将被用来检查之间的关系强度和转移的大小的连接。通过实验性地控制奖金的价值、形式和公开性，作者将能够估计转移对冲击的比例反应，测试资源是否是可替代的，并确定社会压力是否影响意外之财的分享。该项目还将对家庭内部分配的文献作出新的贡献。由于观察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，同时避免出现内部分配的复杂情况。项目完成后，主要研究者和共同主要研究者将与加纳的非政府组织和政府机构举办讲习班，介绍研究结果。还将编写一份研究简报，分发给美国的各种发展实践者组织。共同首席研究员将在每个那些村庄举行信息会议，以非技术术语向村民解释项目的结果。PI和Co-PI还将向美国K-12学校的观众进行演讲，分享一些项目？的成果和对发展中国家乡村生活的见解

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