1 / 28

Social Capital and Basic Goods: The Cautionary Example of Drinking Water in India

Social Capital and Basic Goods: The Cautionary Example of Drinking Water in India. Sripad Motiram Lars Osberg Department of Economics Dalhousie University. The paper in one slide. Uses Indian Time Use Survey, 1998-99 77,593 persons (53,981 rural, 23,612 urban)

neka
Download Presentation

Social Capital and Basic Goods: The Cautionary Example of Drinking Water in India

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Social Capital and Basic Goods:The Cautionary Example of Drinking Water in India Sripad Motiram Lars Osberg Department of Economics Dalhousie University

  2. The paper in one slide • Uses Indian Time Use Survey, 1998-99 • 77,593 persons (53,981 rural, 23,612 urban) • Asks: Why do some households fetch water? • Collective action needed for public infrastructure • “Social Capital” – but is it “Bridging” or “Bonding” ? • Novelty – time use measures of social capital compared to cleavages of wealth and caste • “Community” time is positive BUT “group” time is negative • Inequality of land ownership has larger impact • Urban areas – home ownership, occupation crucial • Cautionary tale • ‘Civic Society’ may be + or – for development • Traditional cleavages of wealth and caste dominate in India

  3. Water: A Basic Necessity of Life – unequally provided • Water - Minimum for survival = 5 liters/day +cooking, washing, sanitation = 20 liters/day/person • Fetching water is physically demanding work • Time – Scarce Resource • Gendered Task within Households • Collecting water takes time away from other productive activities & human capital formation • Poorest citizens of poorest countries affected • But water collection time not part of “poverty” measures

  4. Indian Time Use Survey,1998-99 • Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Tamil Nadu. • 233 million population • Stratified Random Sampling (NSS). • Density of Population, Density of Scheduled Tribes • 18,592 Households. • 12,751 rural, 5,841 urban. • 77,593 persons. • 53,981 rural, 23,612 urban. • Interview Method. • Male + female interviewer – visit for week • Diary of day’s activities for all persons aged 6+ • Normal / Abnormal / Weekly variant – normal used

  5. Indian Time Use Survey,1998-99

  6. Context • 18.6 % of rural households fetch water. • average 47 minutes per day • 11.5% of urban households fetch water • average 42 minutes per day • Highly gendered task: • Women do 87% of it.

  7. Time Spent Fetching Water

  8. Water Collection by Gender, Age

  9. Water Collection by Gender, Age

  10. Why do some households have to fetch water? • Economies of Scale + need for access rights imply collective action required for water supply systems • Water Supply illustrates two linked issues: • Problem of organizing collective action. • Distribution of the benefits of collective action • Both issues are crucial to development • Current debate emphasizes “Social Capital” • This paper examines: • Relative importance of Social Capital in India versus “Traditional” cleavages • “Bridging” in community or “Bonding” in groups ?

  11. Which Households fetch water? • Two issues • Locality has supply. • Individual household can connect. • Individual Household Characteristics • e.g. Occupation, Wealth and Caste. • Why do community characteristics matter? • Organization of public infrastructure provision. • Why difficulty in organizing? • Mistrust + divergence of interests. • Novelty of this paper – Direct time use measures of social interaction can be compared to cleavages of wealth and caste.

  12. A Simple Model of benefits of tap water • Fixed cost well + variable cost of piping compared to time cost of fetching water

  13. Simple Model (2) • Total Cost = Fixed Cost + Marginal Cost + Negotiation Cost • = f(Mistrust, Divergent Interests)

  14. Probability of community tap water • P1 = f(b0 , b1D, b2 ,σ) • Technical cost of construction • b0 = fixed cost of well, b1 = piping cost per meter,D = distance • Negotiation Cost • b2 = mistrust, social capital • Divergent Interests • σ= income and wealth inequality, distance

  15. “Social Capital” & Development? • “Social Capital” = • “the norms and networks that enable collective action” (World Bank web site, Woolcock/Narayan 2000) • “connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them” (Putnam, 2000) • Measured by: • “most people can be trusted?” (Knack & Keefer, 1997) • Membership in groups / associational life (Woolcock/Narayan 2000)

  16. Social Capital: + or - ? “Bridging” or “Bonding” ? • “Trust” • In general OR only among ‘kith and kin’ ? • Associational membership • “Bridging” social groups OR “bonding” members more tightly into narrow groups? • Building a broader community OR entrenching group divisions? • How to test the Social Capital Hypothesis ? • No natural units of measurement • Number of memberships? • Casual counted equally with intense involvement • “Trust” ? • Intensity not comparable inter-personally

  17. This paper – Direct time use measures of social interaction • Time - Natural unit of measurement for social interaction • Cardinal units – can be aggregated & compared inter-personally • impact can be compared to cleavages of wealth & caste • Differentiated by type of social interaction • Community Activities • Group Activities • Social Engagements • Casual encounters “Talking gossiping quarrelling”

  18. Individual household + community characteristics => compound probability of having tap water • Local availability requires collective action • Depends on mistrust, inequality, technical cost • P1 = f(b0 , b1D, b2 ,σ) • Access conditional on availability • Determined by household income & social exclusion by caste, tribe. etc • P2 = f(yi, Si) • Data reveals whether household spent time in water collection • P1 *P2 = f(b0 , b1D, b2 , σ, yi, Si)

  19. Econometric Issues • Unit of analysis • Water provision decided at district level? • Time use data for episodic events => expectation • Endogeneity • More time collecting water implies less for all other activities • But highly gendered activities imply male social time plausibly not affected • Community waterworks construction time • Dropped from community time category • Measure of Land Inequality • Proportion of Landless, Inequality among the landed • Theil, Square of CV, Gini • Measure of Expenditure Inequality • Theil, Square of CV, Gini

  20. “Community Services & Help to other households” time - can it be bad for collective action? • VI COMMUNITY SERVICES AND HELP TO OTHER HOUSEHOLDS • 611. COMMUNITY ORGANISED CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS: BUILDINGS, ROADS, DAMS, WELLS, PONDS ETC. COMMUNITY ASSETS. • 621. COMMUNITY ORGANISED WORK: COOKING FOR COLLECTIVE CELEBRATIONS, ETC. • 631. VOLUNTEERING WITH FOR AN ORGANISATION (WHICH DOES NOT INVOLVE WORKING DIRECTLY FOR INDIVIDUALS) • 641. VOLUNTEER WORK THROUGH ORGANISATIONS EXTENDED DIRECTLY TO INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS • 651. PARTICIPATION IN MEETINGS OF LOCAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS/CASTE, TRIBES, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, UNION, FRATERNAL AND POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS • 661 INVOLVEMENT IN CIVIC AND RELATED RESPONSIBILITIES: VOTING, RALLIES, ATTENDING MEETINGS, PANCHAYAT • 671. INFORMAL HELP TO OTHER HOUSEHOLDS • 681. COMMUNITY SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED

  21. Disaggregation into “community” & “group” crucial • Aggregate “community & group” time is negatively & significantly associated with tap water access • But if entered separately • “Community” time is + • “Group” time is – • In the Indian context, caste relationships underlie volunteerism, direct help and associational life • Virtues of ‘civic society’ for development are historically & culturally specific

  22. Rural Results: Summary • Statistically Significant • Per-Capita Expenditure (+), Professional Status (+), Dependency Ratio (-), • %SC (-), % ST (-) • % Landless (-), Ineq among landed (+) • Talking, Gossiping and Quarreling (+), Social Activities (+), Community Time (+), Group Time (-) • Ground Water Per-Capita (+)

  23. Rural Results: Summary • Size • Land Inequality/Redistribution has the biggest impact • Community/Social Activities – modest impact

  24. Urban Results: Summary • Statistical Significance • Per-Capita Expenditure (+), Laborer (-), Professional (+), Homestead (+) • % SC, %ST • Talking, Gossiping and Quarreling (-), Community Time (+), Group Time (-)

  25. Urban Results: Summary • Size • Homestead Ownership has the biggest impact • Professional Status has a big impact • Community Activities – modest impact

  26. Conclusions & Implications • Social co-operation needed for local public goods supply • Social interaction helps, but in the Indian context group activities ‘bond’ into narrow interests, undermining collective action • Virtues of “civic society” are historically & culturally specific • Land reform + reduction of caste barriers are crucial in Indian context

More Related