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Do buyers have bargaining power? Evidence from informal groundwater contracts.

ABSTRACT: In developing countries, the emergence of informal groundwater markets is accidental rather than planned due to the water scarcity and supply-side constraints. It is less often that water markets are assessed for agents bargaining power and equity impacts. In this paper, I examine the relative bargaining power of sellers and buyers in informal groundwater markets in India. To understand the process of bargaining, a framed-field experiment is conducted with actual buyers and sellers in groundwater contracts. In the experiment, sellers and buyers make a series of choices between output-shared and fixed-price contracts under varied risk conditions, first individually and then jointly. I define bargaining power as the relative ability of the agent to influence the joint decision for their individually preferred contract type. I find that there is a large preference disagreement between sellers and buyers. Buyers have preferences for output-shared contracts while sellers' choices are motivated by expected earnings. Using the random-parameter probit model, I show that sellers have relatively more power to drive the joint decision in their favour. Nevertheless, factors like interpersonal relationships between buyers and sellers, such as kinship ties, long contractual history, and higher education of buyers augment buyers' power relative bargaining power.

SUBMITTER: Yashodha

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7527252 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Do buyers have bargaining power? Evidence from informal groundwater contracts.

Yashodha

PloS one 20200930 9

In developing countries, the emergence of informal groundwater markets is accidental rather than planned due to the water scarcity and supply-side constraints. It is less often that water markets are assessed for agents bargaining power and equity impacts. In this paper, I examine the relative bargaining power of sellers and buyers in informal groundwater markets in India. To understand the process of bargaining, a framed-field experiment is conducted with actual buyers and sellers in groundwate ...[more]

PMID: 32998159

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Project description:INTRODUCTION:To prevent the 2.6 million newborn deaths occurring worldwide every year, health system improvements and changes in care-taker behaviour are necessary. Mothers are commonly assumed to be of particular importance in care-seeking for ill babies; however, few studies have investigated their participation in these processes. This study explores mothers' roles in decision making and strategies in care-seeking for newborns falling ill in Ethiopia. METHODS:A qualitative study was conducted in Butajira, Ethiopia. Data were collected during the autumn of 2015 and comprised 41 interviews and seven focus group discussions. Participants included primary care-takers who had experienced recent newborn illness or death, health care workers and community members. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS:Choices about whether, where and how to seek care for ill newborns were made through cooperation and negotiation among household members. Mothers were considered the ones that initially identified or recognised illness, but their actual opportunities to seek care were bounded by structural and cultural constraints. Mothers' limited bargaining power, contained by financial resources and gendered decision making, shaped their roles in care-seeking. We identified three strategies mothers took on in decision making for newborn illness: (a) acceptance and adaptation (to the lack of options), (b) negotiation and avoidance of advice from others, and (c) active care-seeking and opposition against the husband's or community's advice. CONCLUSION:While the literature on newborn health and parenting emphasizes the key role of mothers in care-seeking, their actual opportunities to seek care are shaped by factors commonly beyond their control. Efforts to promote care-seeking for ill children should recognise that mothers' capabilities to make decisions are embedded in gendered social processes and financial power structures. Thus, policies should not only target individual mothers, but the wider decision making group, including the head of households and extended family.

Dataset Information

Do buyers have bargaining power? Evidence from informal groundwater contracts.

Publications

Do buyers have bargaining power? Evidence from informal groundwater contracts.

Similar Datasets

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