Motives behind community participation: Evidence from natural and artefactual field experiments in Sri Lanka

Abstract

AbstractWe tested four alternative hypotheses concerning the motivations behind the participation by rural households in community work: public goods investment, production network formation, risk‐sharing network formation, and pure altruism. We used a unique dataset from an irrigation project in Sri Lanka under a natural experimental situation where a significant portion of irrigated land was allocated through a lottery mechanism. In addition, we elicited the level of altruism using the dictator game. By combining these data, we showed that community participation patterns fit the motive to form risk‐sharing networks better than the other major motives. Only a few studies have empirically investigated the process of risk‐sharing network formation, and our analysis fills the gap in the literature.