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Leveling with friends: Social networks and indian farmers’ demand for agricultural custom hire services:

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  • Magnan, Nicholas
  • Spielman, David J.
  • Lybbert, Travis J.
  • Gulati, Kajal

Abstract

This research was undertaken to understand how information about a new agricultural technology is transmitted through social networks, and what effect information gained through social networks has on technology demand at the household level. The technology in question is laser land leveling (LLL)-a resource-conserving technology-which we introduced in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India as part of the study. Using an experimental auction, we obtain farmers’ willingness-to-pay for the technology and identify potential adopters. We then randomly select half of these farmers to actually receive LLL services on their land, creating random variation in the number of adopters in each farmer’s social network. We conduct a second auction one year later with the same sample of farmers and estimate network effects on farmers’ updated willingness-to-pay. Four main results emerge: First, exposure to LLL through networks occurs primarily through visits to adopting farmers’ fields. Second, having a first-generation adopter in a farmer’s network increases the farmer’s valuation of LLL by nearly 30 percent on average. Third, the network effects on demand are importantly conditioned on benefits associated with LLL, which implies that learning-rather than mimicry-is driving increases in demand. Fourth, network effects are strongest between poor farmers.

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  • Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Lybbert, Travis J. & Gulati, Kajal, 2013. "Leveling with friends: Social networks and indian farmers’ demand for agricultural custom hire services:," IFPRI discussion papers 1302, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1302
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    2. Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Gulati, Kajal & Lybbert, Travis, 2015. "Information Networks among Women and Men and the Demand for an Agricultural Technology in India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212209, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
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    6. Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Gulati, Kajal, 2013. "Female social networks and learning about a new technology in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150688, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Chikutuma, Mutsvandiani, 2019. "Analysing the social network of technology and information transfer for maize sheller service providers in Zimbabwe," Thesis Commons 2bmzr, Center for Open Science.
    8. Ma, Xingliang & Spielman, David J. & Nazli, Hina & Zambrano, Patricia & Zaidi, Fatima & Kouser, Shahzad, 2014. "The role of social networks in an imperfect market for agricultural technology products: Evidence on Bt cotton adoption in Pakistan," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 175276, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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