Josepa Miquel-Florensa

Mill ownership and farmer's cooperative behavior: the case of Costa Rica coffee farmers

We analyze how Costa Rican coffee farmers behavior in an experimental public good game depends on the type of mill where the farmers sell their coffee (Cooperative vs. privately owned mills), and on the background of their game partners (partners selling to same type of mill or not). We find that cooperative farmers do not display more public good orientation than private market farmers when playing with partners from the same type of mill. However, while farmers selling to private mills make no difference with respect to the background of partners, farmers selling to cooperatives significantly decrease contributions when paired with non-cooperative members. Finally, we study how self-selection into a mechanism that punishes the lowest contributors affects contributions both inside the group and with partners of the opposite background, and show that this increases contributions in the games played with farmers selling to different mill type.

Water service quality in Tanzania: access and management

Problems related to water access and quality are significant in several countries around the world. Thus water management becomes a key issue, especially in developing countries, where the institutional and regulatory context is not always properly designed. The aim of this research is to analyze the residential water service in Tanzania, using data taken from several government reports and the survey “Views of the People 2007”. This survey includes information on perceived problems and improvements on water services, allowing identification of the key drivers of Tanzanian households perceptions of water services. The best-performance framework is also identified, and some policy recommendations are provided.