Discussion Papers
Survey Trust, Experimental Trust
and ROSCA Membership in Rural Cameroon
Alvin Etang, David Fielding and Stephen
Knowles
Economics Discussion Paper No.0713, University of Otago
Abstract
Broadly speaking, economic experiments and surveys have found trust
to be much lower in Africa than in industrialized countries. We
analyze new experimental and survey data from rural Cameroon, where
the average level of trust appears to be much higher than is typical
of Africa. A substantial part of this difference can be explained
by the prevalence of Rotating Saving and Credit Associations (ROSCAs)
in the area: membership of a common ROSCA is one of the most important
factors determining experimental behavior. Correspondingly, responses
to the survey questions indicate that villagers have a high degree
of trust in people with whom they interact regularly, though not
in people in general. There is a significant correlation between
the degree of trust exhibited in the game and the degree of trust
declared in response to survey questions. However, survey responses
do not capture all of the systematic variation in experimental behavior,
and understate the importance of ROSCA membership in predicting
someone’s propensity to trust others.
JEL classifications: C93, O12, Z13
Keywords: social capital, trust, reciprocity, economic experiments,
ROSCAs
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Measuring Aid Effectively in Tests of Aid Effectiveness
David Fielding and Stephen Knowles
Economics Discussion Paper No.0704, University of Otago
Abstract
In the extensive empirical literature on aid effectiveness, aid
is always measured as a share of GDP. However, measuring aid in
real dollars per capita is also consistent with standard growth
theory. As the theory would suggest, the choice of denominator makes
an enormous difference to the sign and significance of coefficients
on aid variables in regressions such as those in Burnside and Dollar
(2000).
JEL classifications: O19, O40
Keywords: growth, aid effectiveness
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