Transaction Costs, Information Technologies, and the Choice of Marketplace among Farmers in Northern Ghana
Examines the impact of mobile phones and radios use on market participation in developing country agricultural markets
Abstract
Using a transactions costs framework, we examine the impact of information and communication technologies (mobile phones and radios) use on market participation in developing country agricultural markets using a novel transaction-level data set of Ghanaian farmers. Our analysis of the choice of markets by farmers suggests that market information from a broader range of markets may not always induce farmers to sell in more distant markets; instead farmers may use broader market information to enhance their bargaining power in closer markets. Finally, we find weak evidence on the impact of using mobile phones in attracting farm gate buyers.
This is an output from the ‘Diffusion of Innovation in Low Income Countries’ Project
Citation
Giacomo Zanello, Chittur S. Srinivasan & Bhavani Shankar (2014) Transaction Costs, Information Technologies, and the Choice of Marketplace among Farmers in Northern Ghana, The Journal of Development Studies, 50:9, 1226-1239,