In a canonical model of collective action, individual contribution to collective action is negatively correlated with group size. Empirical evidence on the group size effect has been mixed, partly due to heterogeneities in group activities. In this paper, we first construct a simple general...

This study combines a livelihoods approach with a regression approach to quantify the effectiveness of irrigation infrastructure investment on improving people’s livelihood strategies. Using a unique dataset based on households in southern Sri Lanka, and a natural experimental setting, we...

This paper investigates the effect of social capital between irrigation canal head-enders and tail-enders on their water allocation problem. Although social capital is considered to be an instrument for common pool resource management, a consensus has not been reached on its effect among...

We analyze a rice farmer panel data set that was collected in 2007/08 and 2011 in Mozambique. We found that in a rainfed area, farmers expanded their cultivated area as local paddy prices increased in parallel with international rice price trends. However, the average yield decreased as the...

While social capital in general has been recognized as essential for economic activities, its accumulation mechanisms are largely unexplored. How does people’s trust toward others, one of the core dimensions of social capital, emerge? To shed new light on this largely unanswered question, we...