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The nexus between gender, collective action for public goods, and agriculture : evidence from Malawi

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  • Kilic,Talip
  • Mccarthy,Nancy
  • Kilic,Talip
  • Mccarthy,Nancy
Abstract
Across the developing world, public goods exert significant impacts on the local rural economy in general and agricultural productivity and welfare outcomes in particular. Economic and social-cultural heterogeneity have, however, long been documented as detrimental to collective capacity to provide public goods. In particular, women are often under-represented in local leadership and decision-making processes, as are young adults and minority ethnic groups. While democratic principles dictate that broad civic engagement by women and other groups could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local governance and increase public goods provision, the empirical evidence on these hypotheses is scant. This paper develops a theoretical model highlighting the complexity of constructing a"fair"schedule of individual contributions, given heterogeneity in costs and benefits that accrue to people depending, for instance, on their gender, age, ethnicity, and education. The model demonstrates that representative leadership and broad participation in community organizations can mitigate the negative impacts of heterogeneity on collective capacity to provide public goods. Nationally-representative household survey data from Malawi, combined with geospatial and administrative information, are used to test this hypothesis and estimate the relationship between collective capacity for public goods provision and community median estimates of maize yields and household consumption expenditures per capita. The analysis shows that similarities between the leadership and the general population, in terms of gender and age, and active participation by women and young adults in community groups alleviate the negative effects of heterogeneity and increase collective capacity, which in turn improves agricultural productivity and welfare.

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  • Kilic,Talip & Mccarthy,Nancy & Kilic,Talip & Mccarthy,Nancy, 2014. "The nexus between gender, collective action for public goods, and agriculture : evidence from Malawi," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6806, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6806
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2020. "Leader turnover and forest management outcomes: Micro-level evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Ailish Craig & Craig W. Hutton & Justin Sheffield, 2022. "Social Capital Typologies and Sustainable Development: Spatial Patterns in the Central and Southern Regions of Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Boulu-Reshef, Béatrice & Schulhofer-Wohl, Jonah, 2022. "The impact of distance on parochial altruism: An experimental investigation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Wen Jun & Junaid Waheed & Hadi Hussain & Ihsan Jamil & Denisa Borbášová & Muhammad Khalid Anser, 2020. "Working women and per capita household consumption expenditures; an untouched reality," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 38(1), pages 35-69.
    6. Almamy Sylla & Jummai Othniel Yila & Sory Diallo & Sékou Traoré, 2023. "Importance of the Social Structures in Cowpea Varietal Demands for Women and Men Farmers in Segou Region, Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    7. Peter Brummund & Joshua D. Merfeld, 2022. "Should farmers farm more? Comparing marginal products within Malawian households," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(2), pages 289-306, March.
    8. Doss, Cheryl R. & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, 2015. "Collective Action within the Household: Insights from Natural Resource Management," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 171-183.
    9. Birner, Regina & Anderson, Jock R., 2015. "Strengthening Agricultural Governance in an Interconnected World," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211345, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Margolies, Amy & Colantuoni, Elizabeth & Morgan, Rosemary & Gelli, Aulo & Caulfield, Laura, 2023. "The burdens of participation: A mixed-methods study of the effects of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program on women’s time use in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Nancy McCarthy & Talip Kilic & Alejandro de la Fuente & Joshua M. Brubaker, 2018. "Shelter from the Storm? Household-Level Impacts of, and Responses to, the 2015 Floods in Malawi," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 237-258, October.
    12. João Morgado & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2016. "Gender divide in agricultural productivity in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-176, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Nourani, Vesall & Maertens, Annemie & Michelson, Hope, 2021. "Public good provision and democracy: Evidence from an experiment with farmer groups in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

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    Keywords

    Educational Sciences; Gender and Development; Food Security; Health Care Services Industry; Access of Poor to Social Services; Economic Assistance; Disability; Services&Transfers to Poor;
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