University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
J Dev Stud. 2011;47(2):231-52. doi: 10.1080/00220381003599360.
This article analyses the role of social networks as facilitators of information flows and banana output increase. Based on a village census, full information is available on the socio-economic characteristics and banana production of farmers' kinship group members, neighbours and informal insurance group members. The census data enable us to use individual specific reference groups and include exogenous group controls to tackle standard difficulties related to identification and omitted variables bias when analysing social effects. For the survey village of Nyakatoke in Tanzania the results suggest that information flows exist within all types of groups analysed but output externalities are limited to kinship groups. Using networks may offer scope for effective information flows on agricultural techniques, but our evidence suggests that not just any local network will have a social externality impact, requiring a clear understanding of local social networks for maximum impact.
本文分析了社交网络作为信息流动和香蕉产量增加的促进因素的作用。基于村庄普查，我们可以获得农民亲属群体成员、邻居和非正式保险团体成员的社会经济特征和香蕉生产的完整信息。普查数据使我们能够使用个体特定的参照群体，并包括外生群体控制，以解决在分析社会效应时与识别和遗漏变量偏差相关的标准困难。对于坦桑尼亚的 Nyakatoke 调查村，结果表明，信息流动存在于分析的所有类型的群体中，但产出的外部性仅限于亲属群体。利用网络可能为农业技术的有效信息流动提供空间，但我们的证据表明，并非任何本地网络都将产生社会外部性影响，需要对本地社交网络有清晰的了解，才能发挥最大的影响。
