G2LM|LIC - Poor and Rational: Decision-Making under Scarcity
Data Set Description
The authors investigate in a sample of over 3,000 small-scale farmers in Zambia, who were given the opportunity to exchange randomly assigned household items for alternative items of similar value. Analyzing a total of 5,842 trading decisions over a range of items, including cash, the authors show that exchange asymmetries are sizable and remarkably robust across items and experimental procedures. Using cross sectional, seasonal and randomized variation in financial resource availability, the authors show that exchange asymmetries decrease in magnitude when subjects are more constrained. Consistent with the interpretation that variation in decision stakes drive the results, the authors also show that trading probabilities increase when the value of the items involved is exogenously increased.
Date Created: 2022-10-18Scope of Data Set
Time Periods: 2014 - 2015
Citation(s)
Researchers working with the “G2LM|LIC - Poor and Rational: Decision-Making under Scarcity” Study are obligated to acknowledge the data base and its documentation within their publications, including the DOI, by using this reference.
Publication(s)
Restricted Access
Investigator(s):
- Fehr, Dietmar (University of Heidelberg)
- Fink, Günther (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and University of Basel)
- Jack, B. Kelsey (UC Santa Barbara)
Cross section survey data
Field Experiment
Access to the data is provided to non-for-profit research, replication and teaching purposes. The data is available from the Research Data Center of IZA (IDSC).
Please contact IDSC for any access requests.
Rural areas
Geographic Coverage:
ZAMBIA