IV-4.”A Socio-economic Study on Risk-pooling Mechanism in Rural Cambodia”(H22-23 FY2010-2011)


  • Project Leader : Fukui Seiichi (Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University)
  • Collaborators : Fujita Koichi (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University)
  • : Yagura Kenjiro (Faculty of Economics, Hannan University)
  • : Miwa Kana (Faculty of Economics, Kushiro Public University of Economics)
  • : Chhair Sokty (Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University)

Outline of Research

In less developed countries, people usually make arrangements for some mechanisms to cope with various unpredicted shocks such as serious illness, injury, crop failure and sudden unemployment and so forth.

This study will analyze the roles of “social network,” “community based fund raising activity; Sangaha-tine,” and “remittance from family members” in the risk-pooling of the poor households who face the above-mentioned shocks in rural Cambodia using data collected by household survey and field experiments.

For this purpose, we plan to conduct a field survey in Kompong Speu province and Takeo province.

Description

The objectives of this study are to investigate the mechanisms through which rural households that come across unpredicted shocks, cope with damages caused by such shocks and mitigate their impacts on the household economy through informal risk pooling measures, focusing on “social networks,” “community based fund raising activity; Sangaha-tine,” and “remittance from family members.”

In the first year, we will conduct a field research focusing on the effects of “Sangaha-tine” on risk-pooling and the motivations of village people who participated in it. In the second year, we will conduct field research focusing on the effects of social networks on risk-pooling.

The existing studies have already found that households exhibit greater gift giving and informal lending following the negative income shock of fellow network members. Given this risk-pooling within networks, it is important to analyze who forms links with whom and how types of relationships, such as reciprocal or nonreciprocal, are formed.

This study differs from the existing studiest in the sence that we distinguish between different types of social networks and examine whether dyad characteristics affect risk-pooling differently. Therefore, we believe this study can contribute to the progress of study on risk-pooling.

Finally, it is hoped that the findings of this study can be applied to design more efficient poverty reduction programs.


Takeo Referral Hospital

User fee schedule at a health center in Takeo province