This second project, for which I will also be collecting data, relates to the banking system of early 19th century New England. To answer the question, what made bank owners so sure that their bank would make good loans and thus good returns for them, I intend to investigate the different ways banks used to decide who could take a loan from a bank. My research attempts to understand whether access to credit played an important role in precipitating and worsening the Great Depression. The IMT process with nationally managed systems is just starting in the Philippines and this research follows the first attempt at full management turnover to the farmers. The study site is an 80,000 hectare gravity fed irrigation system with a dam and reservoir.
Rice is the primary crop.
This research will evaluate the outcomes from the IMT in the pilot areas over three cropping seasons using government production data as well as through interviews and surveys with farmers and other relevant staff. The findings from this research is of growing importance and can be used within the Philippines and many other countries who are moving towards local control as way to more efficiently and equitably manage the natural resources such as water. An important policy issue in agricultural economies is the management and correct adjustment of prices. Policy agencies need to know the effect of price changes on farmers so they can implement correct policies. In developing countries where many markets fail to function properly or do not exist, traditional modeling techniques cannot capture the idiosyncrasies of these local economies.