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Who Cares What Others Think (or Do)? Social Learning and Social Pressures in Cotton Farming in India
Author(s) -
Maertens Annemie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1093/ajae/aaw098
Subject(s) - agriculture , set (abstract data type) , livestock , process (computing) , social learning , hazardous waste , business , empirical research , empirical evidence , economics , marketing , agricultural economics , agricultural science , knowledge management , computer science , biology , ecology , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology , programming language , operating system , statistics
This paper examines the role that social networks play in the adoption process of Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt) cotton, a type of genetically engineered cotton that has been available on the Indian market since 2002. Using a unique dataset and empirical methodology, I find that farmers appeared to have exclusively learned from the experimentation of a small set of “progressive” farmers in the village, that is, adoption by other (“regular”) farmers was not considered a useful source of information about the technology. Second, I find evidence of social pressures, originating from the belief that Bt cotton might be hazardous to the environment and livestock, which inhibited adoption, at least for some time.