Aspirations, inequality, and behavioral change: evidence from Colombia

Q2 Social Sciences

Development Studies Research Pub Date : 2022-01-25 DOI:10.1080/21665095.2022.2025878

Jaime Edison Rojas Mora

引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I analyze why inequality can discourage investment. I derive my hypothesis from the theory of aspirations as a reference point. A more significant aspiration gap – the distance between the current state and the aspired state – leads to frustration and fewer incentives to invest. In study I, I use data from a longitudinal panel, exploiting environmental shocks to identify a plausibly exogenous source of variation for inequality. I combine it with an indirect measurement of aspirations using data on wealth, computed for the plausible reference group, defined as cells within the population, sharing similar observable characteristics. Finally, I use the variation in the total debt as the outcome variable. In study II, I use data from a specialized survey where shocks and aspirations are directly measured. I look at total debt as the outcome. Although the two tests are only partially conclusive, the evidence aligns with the central hypothesis.

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抱负、不平等和行为改变:来自哥伦比亚的证据

摘要在这篇文章中，我分析了为什么不平等会阻碍投资。我的假设来源于作为参考点的志向理论。更大的愿望差距——当前状态和理想状态之间的距离——会导致沮丧和投资动机的减少。在研究I中，我使用了来自纵向面板的数据，利用环境冲击来确定不平等变化的一个看似外生的来源。我将其与使用财富数据的愿望的间接测量相结合，财富数据是为可信的参考群体计算的，定义为人群中的细胞，具有相似的可观察特征。最后，我使用总债务的变化作为结果变量。在第二项研究中，我使用了一项专门调查的数据，该调查直接衡量了冲击和愿望。我将债务总额视为结果。尽管这两项测试只是部分结论性的，但证据与中心假设一致。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Development Studies Research Social Sciences-Development

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Development Studies Research ( DSR) is a Routledge journal dedicated to furthering debates in development studies. The journal provides a valuable platform for academics and practitioners to present their research on development issues to as broad an audience as possible. All DSR papers are published Open Access. This ensures that anyone, anywhere can engage with the valuable work being carried out by the myriad of academics and practitioners engaged in development research. The readership of DSR demonstrates that our goal of reaching as broad an audience as possible is being achieved. Papers are accessed by over 140 countries, some reaching over 9,000 downloads. The importance of the journal to impact is thus critical and the significance of OA to development researchers, exponential. Since its 2014 launch, the journal has examined numerous development issues from across the globe, including indigenous struggles, aid effectiveness, small-scale farming for poverty reduction, sustainable entrepreneurship, agricultural development, climate risk and the ‘resource curse’. Every paper published in DSR is an emblem of scientific rigour, having been reviewed first by members of an esteemed Editorial Board, and then by expert academics in a rigorous review process. Every paper, from the one examining a post-Millennium Development Goals environment by one of its architects (see Vandermortele 2014), to ones using established academic theory to understand development-imposed change (see Heeks and Stanforth 2015), and the more policy-oriented papers that contribute valuable recommendations to policy-makers and practitioners (see DSR Editor’s Choice: Policy), reaches a multidisciplinary audience.