INSTRUCTIONS
3 Technology Adoption For your final project, you may want to use academic papers as a source of information. We’ll provide a gentle introduction to gleaning information from academic papers by asking you to read an excerpt of an article on technology adoption in agriculture. Bandiera and Rasul (2006) investigate how farmers’ decisions to adopt a new crop relate to the adoption choices of their social network. Specifically, the authors estimate a farmer’s propensity to adopt sunflower seeds as a function of the number of adopters among their family and friends. Please read the Introduction (pages 1-4 ONLY) of their paper and answer the following questions. A PDF of the paper is provided in the Homework folder on bcourses. 1. (10 pts) Prior to the analysis, the authors argue that the sign of the relationship between propensity to adopt and number of adopters in a farmer’s social network is not obvious. Why might we expect a positive relationship? Why might we except a negative relationship? 2. (8 pts) What is the shape of the relationship the authors estimate? Explain what this means. 3. (6 pts) Besides number of adopters within a farmers social network, what other determinants of adop- tion do the authors find? Are these what you would expect, based on what we’ve learned in class? 4. (6 pts) Besides learning, name one other possible explanation for why adoption choices might be correlated within social networks? 4 Marketing a Region (30 pts) Earlier in class, we spoke about how specific regions might have their own supply chains to consider. A region could produce a physical product (like wine in Napa), but it can also produce environmental services and recreation (like hiking and skiing around Lake Tahoe), target public goods at a specific type of resident (like hospitals and bus networks for elderly individuals), or offer high quality education or skill development. With this in mind, think about the region or town you’re from. In a few paragraphs, address the following: • What does it produce? Think about one major product or service. • How did production start? • What factors make your region more capable at producing it than other regions? • How does your region/town market that product? • Are there risks involved to the consumers?
•How are those risks mitigated - what tools are used?