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This article analyses the role of social networks as facilitators of information flows and banana output increase. Based on a village census, full information is available on the socio-economic characteristics and banana production of farmers' kinship group members, neighbours and informal insurance group members. The census data enable us to use individual specific reference groups and include exogenous group controls to tackle standard difficulties related to identification and omitted variables bias when analysing social effects. For the survey village of Nyakatoke in Tanzania the results suggest that information flows exist within all types of groups analysed but output externalities are limited to kinship groups. Using networks may offer scope for effective information flows on agricultural techniques, but our evidence suggests that not just any local network will have a social externality impact, requiring a clear understanding of local social networks for maximum impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research on implications of the HIV epidemic for individual households and broader rural economies in the 1980s and early 1990s predicted progressive declines in agricultural production, with dire consequences for rural livelihoods. Restudies in Tanzania and Uganda show that from 1986 to the present, HIV and AIDS have sometimes thrown households into disarray and poverty, but more often have reduced development. The progressive and systematic decline predicted in earlier work has not come to pass. However, poverty remains, as does endemic HIV disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A funeral is a costly occasion. This paper studies indigenous insurance institutions developed to cope with the high costs of funerals, based on evidence from rural areas in Tanzania and Ethiopia. These institutions were found to be highly prevalent in the study areas. They are based on well-defined rules and regulations, often offering premium-based insurance for funeral expenses. Increasingly, they are also offering other forms of insurance and credit to cope with hardship. The paper argues that the characteristics and inclusiveness of these institutions make them potentially well placed as models to broaden insurance provision and other developmental activities in these communities. The history of these institutions is characterized by a resistance to attempts of political capture, and helps to understand their apparent opposition to engage more broadly with NGOs and government agencies. As a result, any attempt to expand their activities will have to be done cautiously. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]