TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, THE
Grant: $495,090 - National Science Foundation - Aug. 5, 2009
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Award Description: Development scholars and policy planners regard cooperative producer organizations as a core component of poverty reduction strategies, but little is known about the social dynamics that make some of these organizations more successful than others. This research focuses on the social factors that explain variation in economic performance of such groups, and the consequences of economic development on the quality of life of households and villages. The research team will examine the roles of social and spatial networks, associational capital, and leadership accountability in shaping economic and social outcomes. The research will focus on Uganda's largest rural development project -- the Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Project (APEP) -- which involves over 60,000 farmers and 2,500 village-level organizations. APEP's stated goal is to increase small farmers' productivity and marketing capabilities. Its rate of success varies across villages. It is thought that the variations are related to local leaders' capacities to spread information, elicit trust relationships, and facilitate the emergence of accountability practices. Following a multilevel and multimethod research design, data will be collected at the farmer, village, and parish levels and will include observational data, social networks, and behavioral games, to capture the motivations behind actors' strategic interactions and provide valuable insight on the effect of interpersonal, associational, and spatial (inter-village) networks on economic outcomes. The research contributes to the shift from a suggestive to an empirically grounded understanding of social capital. Also, the theory that underpins the study distinguishes between social capital -- defined as the ability of persons and groups to secure benefits through social networks -- and its source mechanisms (i.e., social norms, trust, reciprocity) and consequences (i.e., innovation adoption, organizational building, economic performance).
Project Description: The project is being carried out as defined in the project abstract. My team, composed by a graduate student, three undergraduate research assistants and approximately 60 interviewers hired from the local population, has gathered extensive information on 300 producer organizations at the village level via group interviews with local leaders, and has administered approximately 3,500 individual interviews with farmers and organization leaders. We have collected social network information for each of our subjects, and complete social network data for a subsample of 100 village-level producer organizations. In addition, both farmers and leaders have played an extensive series of behavioral games. Data collection took place in August and September of 2009, and is now almost complete.
Jobs Summary: No Princeton University faculty jobs were created or retained through ARRA funding. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
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