Access to Information, Transaction Costs and Marketing Choice of Rural Households between Middlemen and Direct Buyers in Bangladesh

This paper assesses the impact of information cost and other transaction costs on rural producers' discrete choice between selling to middlemen and direct buyers, and continuous choice of selling intensity to middlemen and direct buyers. Using transaction costs economics as an analytical framework to decompose the different origins of transaction costs, the paper empirically investigates the impact of transaction costs on farm households' marketing behaviour in the context of Bangladesh. Empirical findings of this paper suggest that access to information in the form of access to telephone and other form of transaction costs play a significant role in producers' marketing behaviour. For information cost, a unit change in distance to telephone increases the probability of choosing direct buyer over middlemen by more than 4 percent and sales to direct buyer by more than 8 percent.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND FACTOR MARKET PARTICIPATION: ADJUSTMENTS OF LAND AND LABOUR MARGINS OF AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN BANGLADESH

This paper assesses the impact of access to information on farm household's factor market participation. The paper tries to answer two questions. First, does use of telephone have any impact on farm household's factor market participation decision? Second, correcting for market participation, does use of telephone have any impact on the type of factor adjustment decision? For the first question, the paper uses a bivariate probit to correct for omitted variable bias and for the second question, the paper uses a two stage probit. Empirical findings of this paper suggest that access to information in the form of use of telephone has significant positive impact on factor market participation. The difference in market participation between telephone users and nonusers is around 14 percent. However, once a household participate in the market, the use of telephone does not have any impact on specific factor market participation.Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing,

Use of ICTs and the Economic Performance of SMEs in East Africa

determinants of aid efforts, generosity, ODA, DAC, donors, G7

Do democracy and press freedom reduce corruption? : Evidence from a cross country study

This paper calls attention to the instrumental role of democracy and press freedom in combating corruption. As opposed to an autocracy with no or limited press freedom, a free press in a democracy can inform voters about the corruption of political representatives, and voters in turn can punish incumbents by electing opposition parties. The empirical investigation carried out in this paper shows that democracy and press freedom can have significant impact on corruption. Though corruption may persist in the short- to medium-run, an increase in voters’ participation and press freedom can reduce corruption

Attaining universal access : Public-private partnership and business-NGO partnership

This paper evaluates two alternative mechanisms, Public-Private Partnership in Peru and Business-NGO Partnership in Bangladesh, that provide rural people with access to telecommunications. The two mechanisms that are examined here are considered as two best practices in the provision of rural telecommunications in the context of developing countries. Under two geographically distinct market segments, rural market characterized by low per-subscriber revenue and urban market characterized by high per-subscriber revenue, the traditional provision mechanisms such as state ownership, regulated monopoly and competitive market structure may not provide universal access to the people living in rural areas of developing countries. Attainment of universal access therefore may require alternative institutions. Based on three criteria of universal service provision: non-discriminatory access, uniform pricing and quality restrictions, the study finds that while the Public-Private Partnership in Peru complies with all of the three criteria, the Business-NGO Partnership in Bangladesh complies with the first two criteria only. With respect to quality, users are less than satisfied with the current level of provision in Bangladesh. The success of the Business-NGO Partnership implies that the replication of such a mechanism might require the pre-existence of an organization with local level knowledge and public good objective. In contrast to that, the Public-Private Partnership ensures the provision of universal access under a written contract, and given the public objective, can attract private providers for rural telecom provisions

Use of ICTs and the economic performance of SMEs in East Africa

This paper assesses the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their impact on the economic performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) of three East African countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Findings of the paper suggest that the diffusion of ICT among East African SMEs is both industry and country specific. The empirical findings suggest that investment in ICT has a negative impact on labour productivity and a positive impact on general market expansion. However, such investment does not have any significant impact on enterprises’ return, nor does it determine enterprises exporter (non-exporter) status

The Rise of Supermarkets and Vertical Relationships in the Indonesian Food Value Chain: Causes and Consequences

This paper reviews the causes of the emergence of modern retailing and the vertical relationships in the Indonesian food value chain, and the consequences of these changes on market organization and value distribution. The findings of this paper suggest that there are both demand- and supply-side factors that contribute to the emergence of modern retailing. The evolution of vertical relationships between farmers and modern retailers observed in Indonesia is a direct response to risks and quality uncertainty. In the vertical relation, large-scale retailers may earn a monopsonistic rent, and there are risks of exclusion of small-scale farmers from the emerging food value chain. However, there are alternative channels through which farmers may sell their products, albeit at a lower price compared to the modern channels, and measures can be instituted to protect them against monopsonistic rents. The findings have important policy implications for developing countries.supermarkets, retailing, Indonesia, food value chain

Do Democracy and Press Freedom Reduce Corruption? : Evidence from a Cross Country Study

This paper calls attention to the instrumental role of democracy and press freedom in combating corruption. As opposed to an autocracy with no or limited press freedom, a free press in a democracy can inform voters about the corruption of political representatives, and voters in turn can punish incumbents by electing opposition parties. The empirical investigation carried out in this paper shows that democracy and press freedom can have significant impact on corruption. Though corruption may persist in the short- to medium-run, an increase in voters? participation and press freedom can reduce corruption.Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Rolle von Demokratie und Pressefreiheit bei der Bekämpfung von Korruption. Im Gegensatz zu Autokratien, in denen Pressefreiheit vollständig oder teilweise eingeschränkt ist, kann in Demokratien eine freie Presse über die Korruption politischer Repräsentanten informieren. Darauf können Wähler reagieren, indem sie Oppositionsparteien wählen. Die empirischen Untersuchungen dieses Beitrages zeigen, dass Demokratie und Pressefreiheit einen signifikanten Einfluss auf Korruption haben. Auch wenn Korruption kurz- bis mittelfristig andauert, können eine Erhöhung der Wählerbeteiligung und Pressefreiheit Korruption reduzieren

Attaining universal access: Public-private partnership and business-NGO partnership

This paper evaluates two alternative mechanisms, Public-Private Partnership in Peru and Business-NGO Partnership in Bangladesh, that provide rural people with access to telecommunications. The two mechanisms that are examined here are considered as two best practices in the provision of rural telecommunications in the context of developing countries. Under two geographically distinct market segments, rural market characterized by low per-subscriber revenue and urban market characterized by high per-subscriber revenue, the traditional provision mechanisms such as state ownership, regulated monopoly and competitive market structure may not provide universal access to the people living in rural areas of developing countries. Attainment of universal access therefore may require alternative institutions. Based on three criteria of universal service provision: non-discriminatory access, uniform pricing and quality restrictions, the study finds that while the Public-Private Partnership in Peru complies with all of the three criteria, the Business-NGO partnership in Bangladesh complies with the first two criteria only. With respect to quality, users are less than satisfied with the current level of provision in Bangladesh. The success of the Business-NGO Partnership implies that the eplication of such a mechanism might require the pre-existence of an organization with local level knowledge and public good objective. In contrast to that, the Public-Private Partnership ensures the provision of universal access under a written contract, and given the public objective, can attract private providers for rural telecom provisions

Willingness to pay for the rural telephone service in Bangladesh and Peru

This paper measures the rural households' willingness to pay (WTP) for access to public telephone services in Bangladesh and Peru through contingent valuation methods. The development of contingent valuation methods together with the econometric expansion of qualitative response models has permitted an approximation to the consumer surplus in the presence of externalities, public good and information asymmetries. The paper utilizes both parametric and nonparametric estimations that are commonly observed in the literature concerned with the estimation of WTP. The main result of the paper suggest that rural telecommunications projects are welfare enhancing, since households' WTP are higher than the prevailing tariff rates. For Peru, households' currently pay US$0.14 for local calls and US$ 0.29 for national long distance calls (LDN), while their WTP for a local call varies from US$0.25 to US$0.35, and for a LDN call varies from US$0.33 to US$0.45. For Bangladesh, households' WTP for a local call varies from US$0.10 to US$0.26, for a LDN call from US$0.23 to US$0.50, and for an international call from US$0.93 to US$1.35. Meanwhile, they are currently paying US$0.03, US$ 0.06 and US$ 0.46 respectively. Despite the fact that the monetary measures of WTP vary depending on measurement methods, the results are consistent for all the parametric and non-parametric measures utilized suggesting that the rural telecommunications projects in Bangladesh and Peru are directly contributing to the improvement of welfare of rural households