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    <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/90440</link>
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    <pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:54:02 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:date>2026-04-28T16:54:02Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Community aspirations and collective action</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232536</link>
      <description>Title: Community aspirations and collective action
Authors: Martini, Christina; Ibanez, Marcela; Khadjavi, Menusch
Abstract: We propose that community aspirations defined as the preferences for goals that increase communal well-being are an important determinant of cooperation in collective action problems. This paper conceptualizes community aspirations and investigates whether the proposed measure is associated with cooperation. The second part of the paper presents the results of a randomized controlled trial that aimed at lifting community aspirations by presenting real-world examples of successful collective action. Survey and experimental data from rural Zambia indicate that compared with current situation, individuals hold optimistic community aspirations. We find some supporting evidence for a positive correlation between community aspirations and cooperation measured using experimental and survey data. Exposure to the examples of cooperation increases cooperation, but has a negative effect on community aspirations. Instead, we find that the mechanism could be through a change in the perceived norm of cooperation.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232536</guid>
      <dc:date>2021-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Community aspirations and cooperation: Prescriptive vs. descriptive role models</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232535</link>
      <description>Title: Community aspirations and cooperation: Prescriptive vs. descriptive role models
Authors: Ibanez, Marcela; Khadjavi, Menusch; Martini, Christina
Abstract: This paper examines the hypothesis that cooperation depends on the aspirations that individuals hold for their community welfare and tests whether videos that depict either a successful example of collective action or living conditions in rural areas can shape community aspirations and increase cooperation among rural communities in Zambia. The results of a lab in the field experiment indicate that compared with the no video condition, unconditional contributions are higher in the video that presents village life while the collective action video does not affect cooperation. When both contributors watch the village life video, conditional contributions are also higher compared to the control treatment. This points to the importance of social norms in the evolution of collective action. We find that individual aspirations are significantly negatively related to the unconditional contribution decision, while community aspirations do not correlate with contribution levels.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232535</guid>
      <dc:date>2021-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Do voluntary sustainability standards increase countries' access to cocoa export markets?</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234259</link>
      <description>Title: Do voluntary sustainability standards increase countries' access to cocoa export markets?
Authors: Grassnick, Nina; Brümmer, Bernhard
Abstract: Large chocolate manufacturers have committed themselves to only using certifiedcocoa beans and some governments want to increase the share of certified cocoaproducts consumed in their countries. Thus, Voluntary Sustainability Standards(VSSs) become quasi-mandatory for cocoa producers and grinders to ensure accessto these markets. Yet, their trade effects are unclear. We study the effect of a VSSon raw and processed cocoa exports. We use a unique dataset that contains the UTZCertified cocoa production quantity of cocoa-producing countries from 2010 to 2016.This allows us to estimate a gravity model of trade and analyse the effect of the shareof UTZ Certified cocoa production quantity in a country on the trade value of rawcocoa beans, cocoa powder, cocoa paste and cocoa butter. Our results show thatUTZ certification only enhances bilateral exports of cocoa beans and paste, while itreduces exports of cocoa butter and has mixed effects on cocoa powder exports.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234259</guid>
      <dc:date>2021-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Smallholder farmers' dissatisfaction with contract schemes in spite of economic benefits: Issues of mistrust and lack of transparency</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/213073</link>
      <description>Title: Smallholder farmers' dissatisfaction with contract schemes in spite of economic benefits: Issues of mistrust and lack of transparency
Authors: Ruml, Anette; Qaim, Matin
Abstract: Contract farming is typically seen as a useful mechanism to help smallholders. However, despite economic benefits, high dropout rates from contract schemes are commonplace. We use data from Ghana to show that smallholders benefit from a resource-providing contract in terms of higher yields and profits, but most of them still regret their decision to participate and would prefer to exit if they could. The main problem is insufficient information from the company. Farmers do not understand all contract details, which leads to mistrust. We argue that lack of transparency may explain high dropout rates in Ghana and other situations too.</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/213073</guid>
      <dc:date>2020-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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