Does Scarcity Reduce Cooperation? Experimental Evidence from Rural Tanzania

Gustav Agneman, Paolo Falco, Exaud Joel and Onesmo Selejio
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Gustav Agneman: DERG, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen
Exaud Joel: Department of Economics, University of Dar Es Salaam
Onesmo Selejio: Department of Economics, University of Dar Es Salaam

No 20-04, DERG working paper series from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Development Economics Research Group (DERG)

Abstract: Cooperation is essential to reap efficiency gains from specialization, not least in poor communities where economic transactions often are informal. Yet, cooperation might be more difficult to sustain under scarcity, since defecting from a cooperative equilibrium can yield safe, short-run benefits. In this study, we investigate how scarcity affects cooperation by leveraging exogenous variation in economic conditions induced by the Msimu harvest in rural Tanzania. We document significant changes in food consumption between the pre- and post-harvest period, and show that lean season scarcity reduces socially efficient but personally risky investments in a framed Investment Game. This can contribute to what is commonly referred to as a behavioral poverty trap.

Keywords: scarcity; cooperation; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C71 C93 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36
Date: 2020-02-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-exp and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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