Social Network Capital, Economic Mobility and Poverty Traps

The paper explores the role social network capital might play in facilitating poor agents’ escape from poverty traps. We model endogenous network formation among households heterogeneously endowed with both traditional and social network capital who make investment and technology choices over time in the absence of financial markets and faced with multiple production technologies featuring different fixed costs and returns. We show that social network capital can serve as either a complement to or a substitute for productive assets in facilitating some poor households’ escape from poverty. However, the voluntary nature of costly social network formation also creates both involuntary and voluntary exclusionary mechanisms that impede some poor households’ efforts to exit poverty. The ameliorative potential of social networks therefore depends fundamentally on the underlying wealth distribution in the economy. In some settings, targeted public transfers to the poor can crowd-in private resources by inducing new social links that the poor can exploit to escape from poverty

Effect of ice storage on muscle protein properties and qualities of emulsion fish sausage from bigeye snapper (Priacanthus tayenus) and lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis)

The chemical changes in fish muscle and natural actomyosin (NAM) from bigeye snapper (Priacanthus tayenus) and lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis) muscle during 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 days of iced storage were studied. Myosin heavy chain (MHC) of NAM extracted from two fish species was degraded throughout iced storage. However, no changes in actin were observed. The total volatile base (TVB). trimethylamine (TMA) and surface hydrophobicity increased, while the total sulfhydryl content and emulsion capacity of NAM from both fish species decreased significantly as the storage time increased (p<0.05). A Texture ProfileAnalysis (TPA) and shear force of emulsion fish sausages prepared from two fish species kept in ice for 0, 4, 8 and 12 days were investigated. The results showed that hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness and shear force of sausage prepared from fish kept in ice were lower than those produced from fresh fish. However, no significant differences in adhesiveness were observed. Cooking loss of emulsion fish sausage from two fish species increased throughout storage time (p<0.05). The texture of bigeye snapper sausage was better than that of lizardfish sausages. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of emulsion fish sausage from two fish species revealed bigger voids, thicker strands and less continuity of protein strands with increasing storage time. More microstructural changes were observed in sausages from lizardfish, compared to those in sausages from bigeye snapper

Measuring social networks' effects on agricultural technology adoption

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An integrated agro-ecosystem and livelihood systems approach for the poor and vulnerable in dry areas

More than 400 million people in the developing world depend on dryland agriculture for their livelihoods. Dryland agriculture involves a complex combination of productive components: staple crops, vegetables, livestock, trees and fish interacting principally with rangeland, cultivated areas and watercourses. Managing risk and enhancing productivity through diversification and sustainable intensification is critical to securing and improving rural livelihoods. The main biophysical constraints are natural resource limitations and degradation, particularly water scarcity and encroaching desertification. Social and economic limitations, such as poor access to markets and inputs, weak governance and lack of information about alternative production technologies also limit the options available to farmers. Past efforts to address these constraints by focusing on individual components have either not been successful or are now facing a declining rate of impact, indicating the need for new integrated approaches to research for development of dryland systems. This article outlines the characteristics of such an approach, integrating agro-ecosystem and livelihoods approaches and presents a range of empirical examples of its application in dryland contexts. The authors draw attention to new insights about the design of research required to accelerate impact by integrating across disciplines and scales