Treatment externalities and community-driven development : evidence from Nicaragua
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2020
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Abstract
Do social interactions with neighbors have an impact on participation in cooperative organizations? Using data from a representative sample of beneficiaries from a community-driven development program in Nicaragua, I exploit exposure to a random variation in the number of neighbors assigned to treatment from a field experiment to measure the impact of interactions. I also introduce a binary choice model with social interactions. The model predicts that ones' participation can be complementary or substitute from their neighbors. My results are congruent with strategic substitution. One more neighbor assigned to treatment within a 500-meter distance reduces participation in productive and community organizations by 2.34 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively. These results do not seem to be driven by anticipatory effects in the
control group. Moreover, these impacts are larger for those who borrow their neighbors' inputs and have stronger ties with them.
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Tesis (Magíster en Economía)--Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2020