The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation

This paper investigates whether social structure helps or hinders factor allocation using unusually rich data from The Gambia. Evidence indicates that land available for cultivation is allocated unequally across households; and that factor transfer...

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Main Authors:	Beck, Ulrik, Bjerge, Benedikte, Fafchamps, Marcel
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	SOCIAL NETWORKS ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY LAND MARKET FACTOR MARKET KINSHIP SOCIAL DIVISION LAND TRANSACTIONS INEQUALITY LAND DISTRIBUTION
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/625951519134631616/The-role-of-social-ties-in-factor-allocation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29403

id	okr-10986-29403
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-294032021-06-08T14:42:48Z The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation Beck, Ulrik Bjerge, Benedikte Fafchamps, Marcel SOCIAL NETWORKS ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY LAND MARKET FACTOR MARKET KINSHIP SOCIAL DIVISION LAND TRANSACTIONS INEQUALITY LAND DISTRIBUTION This paper investigates whether social structure helps or hinders factor allocation using unusually rich data from The Gambia. Evidence indicates that land available for cultivation is allocated unequally across households; and that factor transfers are more common between neighbors, co-ethnics, and kinship related households. Does this lead to the conclusion that land inequality is due to flows of land between households being impeded by social divisions? To answer this question, a novel methodology that approaches exhaustive data on dyadic flows from an aggregate point of view is introduced. Land transfers lead to a more equal distribution of land and to more comparable factor ratios across households in general. But equalizing transfers of land are not more likely within ethnic or kinship groups. In conclusion, ethnic and kinship divisions do not hinder land and labor transfers in a way that contributes to aggregate factor inequality. Labor transfers do not equilibrate factor ratios across households. But it cannot be ruled out that they serve a beneficial role, e.g., to deal with unanticipated health shocks. 2018-02-28T22:11:37Z 2018-02-28T22:11:37Z 2018-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/625951519134631616/The-role-of-social-ties-in-factor-allocation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29403 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8343 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Gambia, The
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	SOCIAL NETWORKS ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY LAND MARKET FACTOR MARKET KINSHIP SOCIAL DIVISION LAND TRANSACTIONS INEQUALITY LAND DISTRIBUTION
spellingShingle	SOCIAL NETWORKS ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY LAND MARKET FACTOR MARKET KINSHIP SOCIAL DIVISION LAND TRANSACTIONS INEQUALITY LAND DISTRIBUTION Beck, Ulrik Bjerge, Benedikte Fafchamps, Marcel The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
geographic_facet	Africa Gambia, The
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8343
description	This paper investigates whether social structure helps or hinders factor allocation using unusually rich data from The Gambia. Evidence indicates that land available for cultivation is allocated unequally across households; and that factor transfers are more common between neighbors, co-ethnics, and kinship related households. Does this lead to the conclusion that land inequality is due to flows of land between households being impeded by social divisions? To answer this question, a novel methodology that approaches exhaustive data on dyadic flows from an aggregate point of view is introduced. Land transfers lead to a more equal distribution of land and to more comparable factor ratios across households in general. But equalizing transfers of land are not more likely within ethnic or kinship groups. In conclusion, ethnic and kinship divisions do not hinder land and labor transfers in a way that contributes to aggregate factor inequality. Labor transfers do not equilibrate factor ratios across households. But it cannot be ruled out that they serve a beneficial role, e.g., to deal with unanticipated health shocks.
format	Working Paper
author	Beck, Ulrik Bjerge, Benedikte Fafchamps, Marcel
author_facet	Beck, Ulrik Bjerge, Benedikte Fafchamps, Marcel
author_sort	Beck, Ulrik
title	The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
title_short	The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
title_full	The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
title_fullStr	The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
title_full_unstemmed	The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation
title_sort	role of social ties in factor allocation
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/625951519134631616/The-role-of-social-ties-in-factor-allocation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29403
_version_	1764469258446700544

The Role of Social Ties in Factor Allocation

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