In this article the authors examine the motivation behind the formation of risk pools. They do so by using as suitable study data survey information collected among the rural poor of the Philippines. They discuss the possibility that network formation comes as the result of an attempt to...

Using data from the Philippines, this article seeks to understand how households in the study area apparently manage to avoid falling into a debt trap in spite of frequent borrowing. Findings suggest that this is achieved via three institutional features. First, most informal debt carries no...

(English) This paper examines credit repayment among rural Filipino households , using survey data collected in four villages in the Cordillera mountains of northern Philippines between July, 1994 and March, 1995. We find that the timing of loan repayment depends on shocks affecting lender and...

(English) This paper examines the endogenous formation of risk sharing networks in the rural Philippines. We show that geographic proximity is a major determinant of interpersonal relationships. We find little evidence that people form relationships to pool income risk. The existence of a...

Using data from the Philippines, this article seeks to understand how households in the study area apparently manage to avoid falling into a debt trap in spite of frequent borrowing. Findings suggest that this is achieved via three institutional features. First, most informal debt carries no...

Interpersonal relationships have long been suspected of shaping agrarian institutions, probably because weak formal institutions must be supplemented by interpersonal trust. This is particularly true for informal risk sharing, a fundamental risk coping mechanism for the rural poor (e.g. Mark R....

This paper examines the endogenous formation of risk sharing networks in the rural Philippines. We show that geographic proximity is a major determinant of interpersonal relationships. We find little evidence that people form relationships to pool income risk. The existence of a pre-existing...