@article{bffcc8f8ca9e484b848d0bcca91fbc42,
title = "It takes two: Experimental evidence on the determinants of technology diffusion",
abstract = "This paper reports on an experiment that brings insights from the literature on demand-side determinants of technology adoption to the study of peer-to-peer diffusion. We develop a custom weaving technique and randomly seed training into a real network of garment making firm owners in Ghana. Training leads to limited adoption among trainees, but little to no diffusion to non-trainees. In a second phase, we cross-randomize demand for the technique. Demand shocks increase adoption of the technology in both groups and diffusion to untrained firms, generated by a pattern in which trained firm owners teach approximately 400% more of their peers if they are randomly assigned to the demand intervention. We find no evidence that our main effects are driven by differences in ability (learning-by-doing) or other adoption-based mechanisms. Rather, our findings are most consistent with the demand intervention generating differential willingness to diffuse among potential teachers.",
keywords = "Demand, Diffusion, Firms, Networks, Technology",
author = "Morgan Hardy and Jamie McCasland",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to David Atkin, Dan Bj?rkegren, Jing Cai, Andrew Foster, Emily Oster, and Eric Verhoogen, for their detailed reading of and essential commentary on this paper. We also are grateful to Anna Aizer, Arun Chandrasekhar, Kristopher Chatlosh, Pedro Dal Bo, David Glancy, Jeremy Magruder, Isaac Mbiti, Ang?lica Meinhofer, Sveta Milusheva, Martin Rotemberg, Anja Sautmann, Daniela Scida, Jesse Shapiro, William Violette, Christopher Woodruff, and seminar participants at Brown University, Columbia University, New York University, New York University - Abu Dhabi, University of Zurich, University of Ottawa, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, The World Bank, The International Food Policy Research Institute, Northeast Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC), Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) conference at Warwick University, and NBER Summer Institute Development Workshop for taking the time to give helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Lois Aryee, Robert Obenya, Charles Sefenu, Yani Tyskerud, Innovations for Poverty Action-Ghana, and especially Edna Kobbinah for excellent research assistance in the field, the Hohoe Municipal District Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) coordinators for partnering with us on the design training, and Osman Mutawakil for collaborating on the design of the weaving technique. This research was supported by funding from PEDL, 3ie, USAID, The World Bank, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Barrett Hazeltine Fellowship for Graduate Research in Entrepreneurship, the Watson Institute for International Studies, and the Population Studies Center at Brown University. All errors are our own. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Morgan Hardy, Address: 19 W. 4th Street, New York, NY, 10003, Phone: 212-998-8900, Fax: 212-995-4186, Email: morgan.hardy@nyu.edu. Funding Information: We are grateful to David Atkin, Dan Bj{\"o}rkegren, Jing Cai, Andrew Foster, Emily Oster, and Eric Verhoogen, for their detailed reading of and essential commentary on this paper. We also are grateful to Anna Aizer, Arun Chandrasekhar, Kristopher Chatlosh, Pedro Dal Bo, David Glancy, Jeremy Magruder, Isaac Mbiti, Ang{\'e}lica Meinhofer, Sveta Milusheva, Martin Rotemberg, Anja Sautmann, Daniela Scida, Jesse Shapiro, William Violette, Christopher Woodruff, and seminar participants at Brown University, Columbia University, New York University, New York University - Abu Dhabi, University of Zurich, University of Ottawa, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, The World Bank, The International Food Policy Research Institute, Northeast Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC), Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) conference at Warwick University, and NBER Summer Institute Development Workshop for taking the time to give helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Lois Aryee, Robert Obenya, Charles Sefenu, Yani Tyskerud, Innovations for Poverty Action-Ghana, and especially Edna Kobbinah for excellent research assistance in the field, the Hohoe Municipal District Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) coordinators for partnering with us on the design training, and Osman Mutawakil for collaborating on the design of the weaving technique. This research was supported by funding from PEDL, 3ie, USAID , The World Bank , the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation , the Barrett Hazeltine Fellowship for Graduate Research in Entrepreneurship , the Watson Institute for International Studies , and the Population Studies Center at Brown University . All errors are our own. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Morgan Hardy, Address: 19 W. 4th Street, New York, NY, 10003, Phone: 212-998-8900, Fax: 212-995-4186, Email: morgan.hardy@nyu.edu . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",
year = "2021",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102600",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "149",
journal = "Journal of Development of Economics",
issn = "0304-3878",
publisher = "Elsevier",
}