Transaction Costs and Market Institutions: Grain Brokers in Ethiopia
Transaction Costs and Market Institutions: Grain Brokers in Ethiopia
Transaction Costs and Market Institutions: Grain Brokers in Ethiopia
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the number of family members available <strong>and</strong> the traders’ other occupations. With<br />
respect to the cost of capital, <strong>in</strong>formation was collected on the amount of work<strong>in</strong>g<br />
capital held by traders, the frequency of turnover of capital, <strong>and</strong> the sources <strong>and</strong><br />
amount of credit obta<strong>in</strong>ed (bank, friends, family, supplier, sav<strong>in</strong>gs association).<br />
Additional <strong>in</strong>formation on traders’ access to additional capital was collected on<br />
the number of possible creditors, parents <strong>in</strong> gra<strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess, ownership of<br />
collateral assets, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>heritance.<br />
Data on social capital, or the extent of<br />
“connectedness” that traders had, were obta<strong>in</strong>ed through questions regard<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
number of local <strong>and</strong> distant market contacts, the number of contacts from the<br />
same region, the number of family <strong>and</strong> friends <strong>in</strong> gra<strong>in</strong> trade, the number of<br />
regular partners traders had <strong>in</strong> local <strong>and</strong> distant markets, <strong>and</strong> the number of<br />
languages spoken. F<strong>in</strong>ally, traders were asked to detail what proportion of local<br />
<strong>and</strong> distant transactions occurred with <strong>in</strong>termediaries, for purchases <strong>and</strong> sales<br />
separately.