Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98272 
Year of Publication: 
2000
Series/Report no.: 
Center Discussion Paper No. 817
Publisher: 
Yale University, Economic Growth Center, New Haven, CT
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the role of social learning in the diffusion of a new agricultural technology in Ghana. We use unique data on farmers’ communication patterns to define each individual’s information neighborhood, the set of others from whom he might learn. Our empirical strategy is to test whether farmers adjust their inputs to align with those of their information neighbors who were surprisingly successful in previous periods. We present evidence that farmers adopt surprisingly successful neighbors’ practices, conditional on many potentially confounding factors including common growing conditions, credit arrangements, clan membership, and religion. The relationship of these input adjustments to experience further supports their interpretation as resulting from social learning. In addition, we apply our methods to input choices for another crop with known technology and they correctly indicate an absence of social learning effects.
Subjects: 
Social Learning
Technology
Innovation
JEL: 
O31
O12
O13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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