Rural households in the Mahafaly region of south-western Madagascar have to contend with low economic development and a risky natural environment. A survey of 665 households in the region was designed to address three research questions: what is the relationship between diversification of income sources and household wealth; how does education influence access to non-farm income sources and diversification; and how does household wealth and diversification affect well-being?The results show that the overwhelming majority of households follow a diversification strategy. Household wealth is associated with larger fields, greater crop diversity and higher diversification of income source categories. Education enhances access to high-return, non-farm income sources. Self-reported well-being is positively affected by both wealth and diversification. Better education and measures to improve inhabitants' existing strategies for compensation of yield losses in farming are crucial for securing local livelihoods in the face of decreasing precipitation due to climate change.

This article reports findings from a qualitative case study on the recent development of a pastoral transhumance movement in the Mahafaly Plateau region in Madagascar. Interviews with pastoralists from 26 villages are analyzed within a framework of contemporary new institutional economics to investigate pastoral mobility, as a response to the Madagascar-wide problem of cattle raiders (dahalo). The conditions for the new movement are compared to a traditional transhumance movement comprising the same actors but in reverse geographical direction. Contrary to many previous studies from Madagascar, the results reveal that property rights regarding access to ancestral land are not a constraint to pastoral mobility. The new transhumance movement was enabled by pro-social norms of solidarity, guest rights and unconditional hospitality (fihavanana) shared by the pastoralists in the region. Additional vital elements are mental models of kinship (raza, longo) and the formal indigenous institution of trust creation by sincerity oaths (titike, kine). However, frequent cattle raids have led to social change and an environment of mistrust; placing social constraints on pastoral mobility. Hospitality and guest rights are increasingly bound to kinship relations, and the pastoralists' interpretation of kinship has become narrower. These social constraints are far more relevant to the new movement than to the more institutionalized traditional transhumance. The findings illustrate how Madagascar's cattle raiding problem has influenced the rural society's social norms and mental models. The study highlights how supportive social norms and fitting shared mental models influence people's capacity to adapt, especially in sociocultural settings ruled by informal indigenous institutions. RÉSUMÉDans une étude de cas qualitative, l'élaboration récente d'une transhumance pastorale à travers le plateau Mahafaly dans la ré-gion subaride du sud-ouest de Madagascar a été analysée. Des interviews ont été menées avec des bouviers de 26 villages de la région afin de comprendre comment cette nouvelle forme de transhumance est apparue et comment elle a été élaborée afin d'identifier les similarités et les différences par rapport à la transhumance traditionnelle qui reste d'actualité et suit la même direction mais en sens opposé. Les interviews ont abordé les expériences personnelles des bouviers sur la pratique de la nouvelle transhumance ou la transhumance traditionnelle ainsi que leur perception des menaces que représentent les voleurs de bé-tail (dahalo, en dialecte régionale malaso). Les avantages et les limites de la nouvelle transhumance ont également été globalement abordés. Les personnes résidentes de la zone littorale ont été interviewées pour comprendre comment elles percevaient la nouvelle transhumance et comment elles accueillaient les bouviers dans leurs villages. Contrairement à de nombreuses études menées à Madagascar, les résultats obtenus ici montrent que les droits de propriété portant sur l'accès aux terres ancestrales n...

This paper examines the case of indigenous privatization of the important fodder tree samata (Euphorbia stenoclada) and concurrent legal curtailment of this privatization among the Tanalana people of southwest Madagascar from a long-term perspective. Applying a framework for institutional change to empirical data derived from interviews conducted in 20 villages in the Mahafaly Plateau region, the study explores the process and mechanisms involved in creating and asserting private property rights to this common pool resource on the one hand, and the process of curtailment on the other. Implementation of the curtailing institutions is hampered by (1) the low bargaining power of village communities versus privatizers, which stems from the users' preference for avoiding open conflicts and laissez faire ideology, (2) the low social acceptance and internalization of new curtailment rules, which are perceived as contradictory to customary resource privatization rights and the ideology of personal freedom restricted only by ancestral rules-in-use, and (3) ineffective self-governance and enforcement mechanisms based on pro-active monitoring of local users. Stressing the interplay between ideology and bargaining power in the context-specific constellation of actors, this paper contributes to the understanding of the transformation of property rights and institutional change in self-organized, traditional societies.Keywords: common pool resources, community-based management, institutional change, property rights, privatization 618 Johanna Friederike Goetter and Regina Neudert Acknowledgment: We would like to thank all interviewees, our research assistants Andrianjohary Léopold Clément and Eltos Lazandrainy Fahamaro, our colleagues at BTU for fruitful feedback, as well as three anonymous reviewers for their critical and insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper. This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the project SuLaMa (Sustainable Land Management in southwestern Madagascar).

In development research, much effort has gone into analyzing the impact of economic and political institutions and their adequate design. However, unforeseen factors such as the impact of the cumulative behavior of individuals as shaped by informal institutionsespecially social norms and moral valuesmay also determine the pace and path of development. Thus, positive economic, social or political triggers may only then translate into development if the relevant actors adapt their strategies and actions appropriately. Similarly, while negative triggers may induce a deterioration of the socioeconomic situation if no adaptation or a mal-adaptation takes place, in another real-world setting with a different set of institutions and actors it may in turn be possible to preserve the status quo. Sound analytical frameworks are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic interaction of factors leading to a case-specific outcome and history of change. These frameworks have to be specific enough to allow the interpretation of complex changes and dynamics and at the same time general enough to fully cover a broad range of diverse settings and all important but possibly unforeseen aspects. In this paper, I present a modified version of the Framework for Modeling Institutional Change developed by Jean Ensminger (1992). Accounting for the relationships and dynamics of incentives, formal and informal institutions, bargaining power and the constellation of actors, Ensminger's framework, which is rooted in the theoretical approach of New Institutional Anthropology, merges important aspects from New Institutional Economics and anthropology. However, it fails to leave room for agency which, as the paper illustrates, has been shown to play an often important role in development. The modified version of Ensminger's framework incorporates agency as a main factor. For the purpose of demonstration, it is applied to a case study on informal constraints to cope with cattle rustling in Madagascar. The paper illustrates the modified framework's analytical strength for a meticulous investigation of a wide range of empirical cases and discusses to which development-related cases and research interests it fits best.

In development research, much effort has gone into analyzing the impact of economic and political institutions and their adequate design. However, unforeseen factors such as the impact of the cumulative behavior of individuals as shaped by informal institutions – especially social norms and moral values – may also determine the pace and path of development. Thus, positive economic, social or political triggers may only then translate into development if the relevant actors adapt their strategies and actions appropriately. Similarly, while negative triggers may induce a deterioration of the socioeconomic situation if no adaptation or a mal-adaptation takes place, in another real-world setting with a different set of institutions and actors it may in turn be possible to preserve the status quo. Sound analytical frameworks are needed to gain a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic interaction of factors leading to a case-specific outcome and history of change. These frameworks have to be specific enough to allow the interpretation of complex changes and dynamics and at the same time general enough to fully cover a broad range of diverse settings and all important but possibly unforeseen aspects. In this paper, I present a modified version of the Framework for Modeling Institutional Change developed by Jean Ensminger (1992). Accounting for the relationships and dynamics of incentives, formal and informal institutions, bargaining power and the constellation of actors, Ensminger’s framework, which is rooted in the theoretical approach of New Institutional Anthropology, merges important aspects from New Institutional Economics and anthropology. However, it fails to leave room for agency which, as the paper illustrates, has been shown to play an often important role in development. The modified version of Ensminger’s framework incorporates agency as a main factor. For the purpose of demonstration, it is applied to a case study on informal constraints to cope with cattle rustling in Madagascar. The paper illustrates the modified framework’s analytical strength for a meticulous investigation of a wide range of empirical cases and discusses to which development-related cases and research interests it fits best. JEL Codes: B52, O1, N57, Z13