Neighborhood effects and social behavior: The case of irrigated and rainfed farmers in Bohol, the Philippines

Abstract

a b s t r a c tArtifactual field experiments, spatial econometrics, and household surveys are combined in a single study to investigate the neighborhood effects of social behaviors. The dictator and public goods games are conducted among rice farmers in irrigated and non-irrigated areas in the Philippines. We find the neighborhood effects but the magnitude and statistical significance of endogenous social effects vary with the irrigation availability, type of social behavior, and type of neighborhood. Altruistic and cooperative behaviors are significantly influenced by the behaviors of neighbors only in the irrigated area, where social ties are strengthened through collective irrigation management. Through this effect, irrigated farmers' social behaviors become similar to those of one another. Neighborhood effects for cooperative behavior are stronger among farm plot neighbors than among residential neighbors, which may reflect their interactions in irrigation management. Although nondynamic, these findings are consistent with the theory of social norm evolution through common pool resource management.

Is farmer-to-farmer extension effective? The impact of training on technology adoption and rice farming productivity in Tanzania

“…The distance between plots is calculated from the GPS coordinates collected in the 2010 survey. In addition, we need to carefully consider spatial interdependence in both the dependent variables and error terms (e.g., Anselin, 1988;LeSage & Pace, 2009;Tsusaka, Kajisa, Pede, & Aoyagi, 2015). In our context, the former can be interpreted as the learning effect among vicinal ordinary farmers, while the latter is regarded as the resemblance in adoption behavior arising from common unobservable conditions such as soil quality and water availability due to the proximity of the sample plots.…”

Influence of Indigenous Spiritual Beliefs on Natural Resource Management and Ecological Conservation in Thailand

“…Such indigenous beliefs and practices have contributed to NRM systems. It is worth emphasizing that traditional institutions play an important role in ensuring that violators are punished, as illustrated by Tsusaka et al [42]. Collective management of these natural resources is predicated on religions, beliefs, morality, norms and cultural practices.…”

Neighbourhood Effects in Pesticide Use: Evidence from the Rural Philippines

“…The original sampling target was 418 irrigable households randomly selected from each irrigation water user group (approximately 12.3% of the total farm households in the irrigated area) and 429 randomly selected households from adjacent villages that were similar to the irrigated area in terms of hydrology, agronomy and socio-economics. Note that all sample households are rice farmers and that rice has been the dominant crop on the island, often cultivated twice a year even before the project was 3 See Japan International Cooperation Agency and International Rice Research Institute (2012) and Tsusaka et al (2015) for details.…”

“… See Japan International Cooperation Agency and International Rice Research Institute () and Tsusaka et al . () for details. …”