Date of Graduation
8-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Agricultural Economics (MS)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
Advisor/Mentor
Qiuqiong Huang
Committee Member
Arya Gaduh
Second Committee Member
Rodolfo Nayga
Keywords
Governance, Irrigation Investment, North China, Social Capital, Village Level Irrigation System
Abstract
Using data from China Water Institution and Management (CWIM) survey, the study first constructs measures of all three most studied dimensions of social capital: trust, networks, and norms. The study then examines if social capital has any predictive powers of individual farmers’ contribution decisions as well as farmers’ contributions aggregated at the village level. Farmers’ choices between different forms of contributions (labor versus cash) are also analyzed. Our results suggest that all three dimensions of social capital explain farmers’ contribution decisions. Governance quality of local irrigation systems and the norm of cooperation have strong predictive powers of farmers’ decisions to contribute. Strongly agree other villagers can be trusted is positively correlated with farmers’ decisions to contribute cash instead of labor and the share of total cash investment at village level contributed by farmers.
Citation
Nian, Y. (2018). Can Social Capital Boost Irrigation Capital: Empirical Evidence from North China. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2917