Inventory Credit as a Commitment Device to Save Grain Until the Hunger Season

Abstract In January 2013, we collected data from 653 farmers in Burkina Faso, who were asked hypothetical questions about risk aversion and time discounting. Ten months later, these farmers were offered the opportunity to participate in an inventory credit system, also called warrantage, in which th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of agricultural economics 2019-07, Vol.101 (4), p.1115-1139
Main Authors: Le Cotty, T, Maître d’Hôtel, E, Soubeyran, R, Subervie, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
Agricultural sciences
Agriculture, economy and politics
Aversion
Bias
Commitment savings
Credit
Discounting
Economics and Finance
Farmers
Grain
Harvest
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hunger
hyperbolic discounting
inventory credit
Life Sciences
Risk
Risk aversion
Warehouses
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Summary:Abstract In January 2013, we collected data from 653 farmers in Burkina Faso, who were asked hypothetical questions about risk aversion and time discounting. Ten months later, these farmers were offered the opportunity to participate in an inventory credit system, also called warrantage, in which they receive a loan in exchange for storing a portion of their harvest as a physical guarantee in one of the newly-built warehouses of the program. We found that a significant number of farmers chose to store grain in the warehouse without taking the maximum amount allowed for a loan in return, and that farmers who exhibit a stronger present bias were significantly more likely to participate in the warrantage system than other, otherwise similar, farmers. We interpret these results as evidence that farmers use warrantage as a means to commit to saving a portion of their crop until the lean season. These results are in line with the main predictions of our theoretical model, which explicitly takes the hyperbolic nature of farmers’ time preferences into account.
ISSN:0002-9092
1467-8276
DOI:10.1093/ajae/aaz009