Learning About Farming: Innovation and Social Networks in a Resettled Community in Brazil

Comola, Margherita; Inguaggiato, Carla; Mendola, Mariapia (February 2021). Learning About Farming: Innovation and Social Networks in a Resettled Community in Brazil (Centro Studi Luca D'Agliano Develpment Studies Working Papers 468). Centro Studi Luca D'Agliano 10.2139/ssrn.3784592

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We study the role of social learning in the diffusion of cash crops in a resettled village economy in northeastern Brazil. We combine detailed geo-coded data on farming plots with dyadic data on social ties among settlers, and we leverage natural exogenous variation in network formation induced by the land occupation movement and the agrarian reform. By using longitudinal data on farming decisions over 15 years we find consistent evidence of significant peer effects in the decision to farm new cash fruits (pineapple and passion fruit). Our results suggest that social diffusion is heterogeneous along observed plot and crop characteristics, i.e. farmers growing water-sensitive crop are more likely to respond to the actions of peers with similar water access conditions.

Item Type:

Working Paper

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

UniBE Contributor:

Inguaggiato, Carla

Series:

Centro Studi Luca D'Agliano Develpment Studies Working Papers

Publisher:

Centro Studi Luca D'Agliano

Language:

English

Submitter:

Melchior Peter Nussbaumer

Date Deposited:

09 Mar 2022 15:51

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:13

Publisher DOI:

10.2139/ssrn.3784592

Related URLs:

Additional Information:

There are 2 versions of this paper:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3784592
https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/232844

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/166761

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/166761

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