Group Behaviour and Development
Is the Market Destroying Cooperation?
Published on 19. September 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-19-925692-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book focuses on group behaviour in developing countries. It includes studies of producer and community organizations, NGOs, and some public sector groups.
Despite the fact that most economic decisions are taken by people acting within groups -- families, firms, neighbourhood or community associations, and networks of producers -- the analysis of group functioning has not received enough attention, particularly among economists.
Some groups function well, from the perspectives of equity, efficiency, and well-being, while others do not. This book explores why. It covers groups that perform three types of function: overcoming market failures (e.g. producer organizations); improving the position of their members (e.g. Trade Unions), and distributing resources to the less well-off (e.g. NGOs and the public sector). It contrasts three modes of group behaviour: power and control; cooperation; and the use of material incentives. It explores what determines modes of behaviour of groups, and the consequences for efficiency, equity, and well-being.
The book includes eleven case studies by different authors, including producers' associations in Brazil, farmers' organizations in Korea and Taiwan, community forestry groups in South Asia, organizations of sex-workers in Calcutta, and health NGOs in Uganda. Claims groups tended to be the most cooperative, cooperation fostering empowerment and self-esteem. Distributive or pro bono groups mostly operated according to power and control, while market failure groups often combined all three modes.
The studies show the strong impact of norms in society as a whole on group behaviour. The recent shift towards a stronger role for market incentives has exerted powerful pressures on groups to use more material incentives, undermining the cooperation essential to sustain efficiency and equity. The universal presumption in favour of monetary incentives needs to be abandoned. Non-market behaviour needs to be valued and protected as well.
Despite the fact that most economic decisions are taken by people acting within groups -- families, firms, neighbourhood or community associations, and networks of producers -- the analysis of group functioning has not received enough attention, particularly among economists.
Some groups function well, from the perspectives of equity, efficiency, and well-being, while others do not. This book explores why. It covers groups that perform three types of function: overcoming market failures (e.g. producer organizations); improving the position of their members (e.g. Trade Unions), and distributing resources to the less well-off (e.g. NGOs and the public sector). It contrasts three modes of group behaviour: power and control; cooperation; and the use of material incentives. It explores what determines modes of behaviour of groups, and the consequences for efficiency, equity, and well-being.
The book includes eleven case studies by different authors, including producers' associations in Brazil, farmers' organizations in Korea and Taiwan, community forestry groups in South Asia, organizations of sex-workers in Calcutta, and health NGOs in Uganda. Claims groups tended to be the most cooperative, cooperation fostering empowerment and self-esteem. Distributive or pro bono groups mostly operated according to power and control, while market failure groups often combined all three modes.
The studies show the strong impact of norms in society as a whole on group behaviour. The recent shift towards a stronger role for market incentives has exerted powerful pressures on groups to use more material incentives, undermining the cooperation essential to sustain efficiency and equity. The universal presumption in favour of monetary incentives needs to be abandoned. Non-market behaviour needs to be valued and protected as well.
Reviews / Votes
... an exceptionally useful resource for practitioners and researchers interested in collective action issues. * The Journal of Development Studies * The timeliness of the volume can hardly be overstated ... The book's importance lies in its original choice of analytical framework, and its principal conclusions. * The Journal of Development Studies *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
numerous tables and figures
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
582 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-925692-1 (9780199256921)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Judith Heyer | Frances Stewart | Rosemary Thorp
Group Behaviour and Development
Is the Market Destroying Cooperation?
Book
09/2002
Oxford University Press
€145.47
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Judith Heyer has worked on different aspects of rural development in Kenya and in Tropical Africa. Her work on Kenya has included work on agricultural policy issues related to production and marketing, food policy, and poverty. She has also worked on villages in South India with a special interest in gender, caste, and class. She has been a Fellow and Tutor in Economics at Somerville, and University Lecturer at Oxford University since 1975. and before that lectured at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Frances Stewart is Professor of Development Economics and Director of the International Development Centre, University of Oxford and a fellow of Somerville College. Her major research interests concern the impact of development processes on poor people. She has worked on appropriate technology, basic needs and the impact of adjustment policies on poverty. Recent work has focussed on the economic and social causes and consequences of large scale violent conflict, as well as on group behaviour.
Rosemary Thorp has been the Lecturer in the Economics of Latin America at the University of Oxford since 1971. Before that she taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research has been in the field of economic history of Latin America and the macro economic management problems of that continent. She has worked extensively on Peru, Chile, and Colombia.
Frances Stewart is Professor of Development Economics and Director of the International Development Centre, University of Oxford and a fellow of Somerville College. Her major research interests concern the impact of development processes on poor people. She has worked on appropriate technology, basic needs and the impact of adjustment policies on poverty. Recent work has focussed on the economic and social causes and consequences of large scale violent conflict, as well as on group behaviour.
Rosemary Thorp has been the Lecturer in the Economics of Latin America at the University of Oxford since 1971. Before that she taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research has been in the field of economic history of Latin America and the macro economic management problems of that continent. She has worked extensively on Peru, Chile, and Colombia.
Content
1. Group Behaviour and Development ; 2. Dynamic Interactions Between the Macro-environment, Development Thinking, and Group Behaviour ; 3. Individual Motivation, its Nature, Determinants, and Consequences for Within-group Behaviour ; 4. Collective Action for Local-Level Effort Regulation: An Assessment of Recent Experiences in Senegalese Small-Scale Fisheries ; 5. Leaders and Intermediaries as Economic Development Agents in Producers' Associations ; 6. Group Behaviour and Development: A Comparison of Farmers' Organizations in South Korea and Taiwan ; 7. Has the Coffee Federation Become Redundant? Collective Action and the Market in Colombian Development ; 8. Producer Groups and the Decollectivization of the Mongolian Pastoral Economy ; 9. The Hidden Side of Group Behaviour: A Gender Analysis of Community Forestry in South Asia ; 10. Information Women's Groups in Rural Bangladesh: Group Operation and Outcomes ; 11. Sex Workers in Calcutta and the Dynamics of Collective Action: Political Activism, Community Identity, and Group Behaviour ; 12. Non-market Relationships in Health Care ; 13. Institutional Cultures and Regulatory Relationships in a Liberalizing Health Care System: A Tanzanian Case Study ; 14. The Case of Indigenous NGOs in Uganda's Health Sector ; 15. Conclusions