CAREER: Social Networks, Labor Markets and Agricultural Technology Adoption in Developing Countries

摘要提案标题：职业：发展中国家的社会网络、劳动力市场和农业技术采用建议编号：SE-1254380主要调查者：Beaman，Lori A.本职业试图提供关于社会网络如何在两个关键领域影响发展中国家的经济行为的见解：劳动力市场和农业技术采用。第一个话题--社会网络和劳动力市场--的出发点是，大量证据表明，一个人的社会网络的数量和质量会影响他或她的劳动力市场结果。理论表明，社交网络的存在可能是为了解决信息不对称等市场失灵问题。首席调查员(PI)之前的工作支持个人拥有关于其他网络成员的有用信息。然而，在招聘决策中使用社交网络可能会加剧现有的不平等，因为那些网络连接很少或质量较差的人可能会进一步与就业机会隔绝。尤其是女性报告说，她们使用社交网络的频率更低，平均而言，她们在劳动力市场的结果也更差。该项目利用马拉维的一项招聘试验，研究妇女是否因转介而处于不利地位，如果是，原因是什么？第二个领域是农业技术采用：发展经济学中的一个重要谜题是，为什么农民不使用简单的、看似能增加利润的技术。虽然技术采用可能受到许多限制，但有关技术的不完善信息可能是一个重要因素。这个项目询问如何利用社交网络来改善信息的传播。这项研究还涉及经济理论中关于网络结构如何影响扩散过程的最新工作。这一领域的几个相关项目试图回答实证问题，包括：1)拥有更多农业经验的个人是否会对他们的邻居产生积极的溢出效应？2)农业推广机构能否与人脉广泛的农民合作，以增加技术的采用？3)种子农民的哪些社会网络特征(介入度、程度、特征向量中心)对新农业技术的信息传播最有影响？4)针对人脉丰富的农民是以农村内部知识不平等加剧为代价的吗？这些项目都使用了收集的新数据来准确回答这些问题，包括对马里和马拉维的许多村庄进行的社交网络普查。还使用了新的方法，例如，通过使用扩散模型和基线社会网络数据的模拟，将理论整合到田间试验中，以确定马拉维的哪些农民应该接受新技术培训。广泛影响：以前关于社会网络的许多研究的一个局限性是，几乎没有政策影响。政策制定者很少能改变人们？S社交网络。这一职业项目的一个目标是找到方法，使政策制定者能够利用发展中国家存在的深层社会网络来提高政策的效力--特别是更多地采用能够增加收入和减少贫困的简单农业技术。

Abstract Proposal Title: CAREER: Social Networks, Labor Markets and Agricultural Technology Adoption in Developing CountriesProposal Number: SES - 1254380Principal Investigator: Beaman, Lori A.This CAREER seeks to provide insights into how social networks affect economic behavior in developing countries in two key domains: labor markets and agricultural technology adoption. The starting point for the first topic -social networks and labor markets- is that a large body of evidence shows that the quantity and quality of an individual's social network influences his or her labor market outcomes. Theory suggests social networks may exist in order to address market failures such as asymmetric information. Previous work by the Principal Investigator (PI) supports that individuals have useful information about fellow network members. However, the use of social networks in hiring decisions may reinforce existing inequalities, as those with few or poor-quality network connections could be further isolated from job opportunities. Women in particular report using social networks less often and also have worse labor market outcomes on average. Using a recruitment experiment in Malawi, the project looks at whether women are disadvantaged by referrals, and if so, why? The second area is agricultural technology adoption: An important puzzle in development economics is why farmers do not use simple and seemingly profit-enhancing technologies. While there may be numerous constraints to technology adoption, imperfect information about the technologies could be an important factor. This project asks how social networks can be harnessed to improve the dissemination of information. The research also relates to recent work in economic theory on how network structure affects the diffusion process. Several interrelated projects in this area seek to answer empirical questions, including: 1) Do individuals with more agricultural experience generate positive spillovers to their neighbors? 2) Can agricultural extension agents partner with well-connected farmers to increase technology adoption? 3) Which social network characteristics (betweenness, degree, eigenvector centrality) of seed farmers most influence diffusion of information on new agricultural technologies? 4) Does targeting well-connected farmers come at the cost of increased inequality of knowledge within rural villages? These projects all employ novel data collected to precisely answer these questions, including social network censuses of many villages in Mali and Malawi. New methodologies are also used, such as integrating theory into a field experiment by using simulation of diffusion models and baseline social network data to determine which farmers in Malawi should receive training on new technologies.Broader Impacts: One limitation of much of the previous research on social networks is that there are few policy implications. Policymakers can rarely alter people?s social networks. An objective of this CAREER project is to find ways in which policymakers can use the deep social networks which exist in developing country contexts to improve the effectiveness of policy --in particular to increase the adoption of simple agricultural technologies which can raise incomes and reduce poverty.