This study tests alternative hypotheses concerning the motivations behind the participation by rural households in community work. Using unique data from natural and field experiments in southern Sri Lanka, where irrigated fields have been allocated to farmers by government lottery, we compare...

This study uses a unique long panel dataset from Sri Lanka to examine the mechanism of social capital formation in an imperfect credit market. The authors show that households in the face of credit constraints reduce the time allocation for social capital investment, such as participation in...

In a canonical model of collective action, individual contribution to collective action is negatively correlated with group size. Empirical evidence on the group size effect has been mixed, partly due to heterogeneities in group activities. In this paper, we first construct a simple general...

While it is known that access to physical infrastructure enhances household welfare, there are very few micro-econometric studies that analyze its role in mitigating chronic and transient poverty. This paper aims to bridge this gap in the existing literature by evaluating the impact of a...

In a canonical model of collective action, individual contribution to collective action is negatively correlated with group size. Yet, empirical evidence on the group size effect has been mixed, partly due to heterogeneities in group activities. In this paper, we first construct a simple model...

While previous studies evaluate the impact of social capital on development outcomes, there are very few empirical studies on determinants of social capital formation. We use unique long panel data from Sri Lanka to examine the mechanism of social capital formation in an imperfect credit market....

In a canonical model of collective action, individual contribution to collective action is negatively correlated with group size. Yet, empirical evidence on the group size effect has been mixed, partly due to heterogeneities in group activities. In this paper, we first construct a simple model...