Simon Quinn (University of Oxford)

"Networks and manufacturing firms in Africa: Results from a randomised field experiment" (with Marcel Fafchamps)

Abstract:

"We run a controlled experiment to link managers of manufacturing firms in three African countries. The experiment features exogenous link formation, exogenous seeding of information and exogenous assignment to treatment and placebo. We study the impact of the experiment on firm business practices outside of the lab.  We find large and significant effects on network creation, but no effects on respondent perceptions of business-friendship networks.  We find limited evidence of diffusion of management practices, with the strongest effects in firm formalisation; these effects appear to be strongest for very small firms."