This article documents the role that personal relationships play in economic exchange. Original survey data show that agricultural traders in Madagascar perceive relationships as the most important factor for success in their business. Evidence details the extent to which relationships are used...

This paper examines social capital and its relation with economic development. We focus on the role that interpersonal relationships play in social exchange, whether through the market or through the provision of public goods. By facilitating search and trust, social capital can increase the...

This article examines the contractual practices of African manufacturing firms using survey data collected in Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d'lvoire, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Descriptive statistics and econometric results are presented. They show that contractual flexibility is pervasive and that...

Using detailed survey data from Uganda, this article examines whether coffee producers sell to itinerant traders or directly to markets, where they can get a higher price but must incur a transport cost. We find that selling to the market is more likely when the quantity sold is large and the...

Using field-level data, we investigate whether traditional land tenure systems are an impediment to allocative efficiency in Niger. We find that yields are strongly influenced by the manpower available to farming households, an indication that marginal returns to labor and land are not equalized...

Assortative matching occurs in many social contexts. We experimentally investigate gender assorting in sub-Saharan villages. In the experiment, co-villagers could form groups to share winnings in a gamble choice game. The extent to which grouping arrangements were or could be enforced and,...

Using data from the Philippines, this article seeks to understand how households in the study area apparently manage to avoid falling into a debt trap in spite of frequent borrowing. Findings suggest that this is achieved via three institutional features. First, most informal debt carries no...

This paper examines the formation of risk sharing networks in the rural Philippines. We find that geographic proximity–possibly correlated with kinship–is a major determinant of mutual insurance links among villagers. Age and wealth differences also play an important role. In contrast,...