Social Learning and Incentives for Experimentation and Communication
Open accessAbstract
Low adoption of agricultural technologies holds large productivity consequences for developing countries. Many countries hire agricultural extension agents to communicate with farmers about new technologies, even though a large academic literature has established that information from social networks is a key determinant of product adoption. We incorporate social learning in extension policy using a large-scale field experiment in which we communicate to farmers using different members of social networks. We show that communicator own adoption and effort are susceptible to small performance incentives, and the social identity of the communicator influences others’ learning and adoption. Farmers appear most convinced by communicators who share a group identity with them, or who face comparable agricultural conditions. Exploring the incentives for injection points in social networks to experiment with and communicate about new technologies can take the influential social learning literature in a more policy-relevant direction.
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Peer learning and technology adoption in a digital farmer-to-farmer network
Lasdun, V., Harou, A. P., Magomba, C., & Guereña, D. (2025) · Journal of Development Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103496 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
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- Authors
- BenYishay, A., & Mobarak, A. M.
- Affiliations
- William & Mary (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mobarak, A Mushfiq
- Venue
- The Review of Economic Studies
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-07-30
- Volume
- 86
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 976-1009
- ISSN
- 0034-6527 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-937X
- OpenAlex
- W2885501844
- Semantic Scholar
- a4a754cfa0cf3fcfc31db6e9f6890cfa140cf934
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 72.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- Locations
- The Review of Economic Studies (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Development and Management
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- social learning, agricultural technology adoption, agricultural extension, agricultural extension workers, social networks, performance-based incentives, social identity, group identity, injection point, developing countries
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