Cultural Diversity, Social Learning, and Agricultural Technology Adoption

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fzc017by4978" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: This paper examines how cultural diversity in a population affects how farmers learn from one another during the process of technology adoption. The paper develops two models to study diversity in this context. It modifies an existing model from the literature to allow for cultural diversity. And it presents a game theoretic model in which technology adoption and network formation are determined simultaneously. Both models suggest that cultural diversity can hinder the adoption of a new agricultural technology and lower the long-term equilibrium level of use. The paper then goes on to perform a rough empirical analysis of how cultural diversity affects social learning by examining data on the use of HYV (high-yield varieties) rice in South India. The results of this analysis are inconclusive and point to the need for further research in this area.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 2007

Author	Berman, Benjamin
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Department of Economics

Subject	Stanford Department of Economics
Subject	cultural diversity
Subject	farmers
Subject	technology adoption
Subject	game theory
Subject	network formation
Subject	social learning
Subject	India
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/zc017by4978

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.

Preferred Citation: Berman, Benjamin. (2007). Cultural Diversity, Social Learning, and Agricultural Technology Adoption. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/zc017by4978

Stanford University, Department of Economics, Honors Theses

Loading usage metrics...