Market integration and pro-social behaviour in rural Liberia
Stephan Dietrich, Gonne Beekman & Eleonora Nillesen
#2018-010
There is a long-standing debate on whether access to markets may change
pro-social preferences and as a result undermine informal support
structures prevalent in many developing country settings. This study
presents empirical evidence on the relation between market integration
and pro-social behaviour among rural households in Liberia. This is
particularly relevant in light of recent emphasis on promoting
agricultural development through connecting small-scale farmers to
markets and value chains. We use data from two lab-in-the-field
experiments to measure preferences for altruism and fairness towards
fellow villagers and traders from a provincial market and combine the
experiments with household survey data. We define market integration as
the share of consumption bought at the market. The regression analysis
is based on Tobit and 2SLS Tobit models using chief characteristics and
predicted food consumption expenditures as instrumental variables. Our
study finds that increased levels of market integration have no robust
impact on altruistic behaviour, as represented by amounts send in the
dictator game, but are associated with lower offers in the ultimatum
game. Our findings support the idea that market integration makes people
act more economically rational, especially when matched with traders.
The study provides new evidence that contrary to popular belief, markets
do not crowd out norms of generosity or fairness, or lead to some sort
of negative externality by changing norms and preferences but rather
strengthen strategic considerations and behaviour.
Keywords: market integration, altruism, fairness, lab-in the-field experiment, Liberia
JEL Classification: A13, C93, O12