This article documents the role that personal relationships play in economic exchange. Original survey data show that agricultural traders in Madagascar perceive relationships as the most important factor for success in their business. Of these, the regularity of supply and demand and the sharing of risk appear particularly important. Larger and more prosperous traders are those with quantitatively and qualitatively better relationships.
Family plays little role in business beyond assistance at start-up.
This article examines gender differences in the incidence of rural to urban migration in developing countries, particularly those of Sub-Saharan Africa. The study distinguishes itself from current migration literature by suggesting that the gain in returns to observable attributes, as a result of migration, may differ by gender and could provide an explanation for gender differences in migration. We find that the portion of the wage gap that is due to the gain in returns to observable attributes is larger for males, suggesting that males receive larger monetary returns as a result of migration and, consequently, have greater incentive to migrate to urban areas. Over the course of the 1988-97 period, the Brazilian steel sector was subject to an unprecedented programme of trade liberalisation and privatisation while becoming far more open towards foreign investment and technology inflows. Using various indicators of competitive performance, it is established that the impact of this drive towards globalisation was broadly favourable.