The power of information : the impact of mobile phones on farmers'welfare in the Philippines

The authors explore the impact of access to information on poor farmers’ consumption. The analysis combines spatially coded data on mobile phone coverage with household panel data on farmers from some of the poorest areas of the Philippines. Both the ordinary least squares and instrumental variable estimates indicate that purchasing a mobile phone has a large, positive impact on the household-level growth rate of per capita consumption. Estimates range from 11 to 17 percent, depending on the sample and the specification chosen. The authors perform a range of reliability tests, the results of which all suggest that the instruments are valid. They also present evidence consistent with the argument that easier access to information allows farmers to strike better price deals within their existing trading relationships and to make better choices in terms of where they choose to sell their goods.E-Business,Access to Finance,Rural Poverty Reduction,Debt Markets,Poverty Lines

A road to trust

The authors explore the relationship between transaction costs and generalized trust. Using panel data from 2,100 households in 135 rural communities of the Philippines, the paper shows that where transaction costs are reduced (proxied by road construction), there is an increase in generalized trust. Consistent with the argument that generalized trust is built through repeated interactions, the authors find that the individuals most likely to engage in exchange exhibit an increase in trust after road construction. These results suggest that, rather than being an input to economic growth, trust might be a product of reduced transaction costs (which also favors growth).Post Conflict Reconstruction,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Rural Roads&Transport,Social Capital,Corporate Law

Do community-driven development projects enhance social capital ? evidence from the Philippines

This paper explores the social capital impacts of a large-scale, community-driven development project in the Philippines in which communities competed for block grants for infrastructure investment. The analysis uses a unique data set of about 2,100 households collected before the project started (2003) and after one cycle of sub-project implementation (2006) in 66 treatment and 69 matched control communities. Participation in village assemblies, the frequency with which local officials meet with residents and trust towards strangers increased as a result of the project. However, there is a decline in group membership and participation in informal collective action activities. This may have been because households were time-constrained, so that in order to participate in project activities, they needed to temporarily reduce their participation in informal activities. An alternative explanation is that the project improved the efficiency of formal forms of social capital and thus households needed to rely less on informal forms. Finally, the results indicate that, in the short run, the project might have reduced the number of other investments.Housing&Human Habitats,Access to Finance,Social Accountability,Social Capital,Banks&Banking Reform

A Subsurface Irrigated, Controlled Traffic, No- Tillage System

A subsurface trickle irrigation system was protected from damage for 21 months through use of a controlled traffic pattern and no-till agriculture. During this period, seven successive vegetable crops were grown without disturbing the irrigation system. Subsequent inspection of the system indicated that this combination of techniques would enable it to operate for periods greater than two years at acceptable levels without replacement. The experiment was conducted on two soils, a light volcanic ash soil and a heavy alluvial soil with less favorable physical properties, to assess the general applicability of the results. Natural soil compaction over a 16-month period showed no significant effect on yields. Severe compaction imposed by tractor traffic resulted in a decrease in lettuce root weight of one-half, yet it had no significant effect on crop yield. Emitter plugging increased from an average of 23% in the non-compacted plots to 36% in the compacted plots with similar results in both shallow and deep (13 and 28 cm) lateral line placement. Plugging did not significantly reduce crop yields. Water movement along the trickle line and the intermittent nature of plugging may have reduced the influence of plugging on lettuce yields. The results from these experiments indicate that for shallow-rooted, short duration, transplanted vegetable crops, such as lettuce and cabbage, acceptable yields can be obtained without extensive tillage if water and nutrients are adequately supplied. Phosphorus fertilizer distributed through the trickle system was immobilized within 10 cm or less of the emitters. Because transplanted seedlings were placed directly over the emitters, this "banding" effect was more efficient than broadcast applications at similar rates in supplying nutrients to the first crop of lettuce. The results of this research suggest that economy in time and expense may be achieved with a no-till, controlled traffic, subsurface trickle irrigation system. This method permits vegetable growers and others to exploit the benefits of reduced tillage, optimum soil-water conditions, and distribution of fertilizers through the irrigation system. In addition, phosphorus use efficiency may be increased by transplanting over the emitters. With this approach, growers can minimize the cost of lateral line repair and eliminate the cost of removing or replacing trickle laterals for each harvest cycle

Labor Market Discrimination During Post-Communist Transition: A Monopsony Approach to the Status of Latvia's Russian Minority

Conventional wisdom suggests that during communism, tastes for discrimination were suppressed. In partial explanation for ethnic tensions observed following central planning, economic liberalization allows those tastes to be expressed. This paper explores the feasibility of monopsony as an economic structure supportive of discrimination during transition, using Latvia's ethnic Russians as a case study. Measuring employment concentration and earnings differentials across regions, monopsony appears prevalent in the country. A monopsony explanation requires Russians to have lower labor supply elasticity than Latvians, a condition which estimates for participation probability confirm. Earnings decompositions show that though Russians are paid more than Latvians on average, given their human capital characteristics, they suffer earnings discrimination of between 5.5 and 7.3 percent. In addition, compared with Latvians the likelihood that Russians will be unemployed is greater, though Russians are less likely to register for unemployment services. This evidence suggests that lack of integrated, flexible labor markets in Latvia, and the monopsony which results, have supported labor market discrimination against Russians during transition.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39765/3/wp381.pd