ISBN: 9070280272 9789070280277

Category: Business & Economics / Economics / Social & Behavioral

Page count: 258

Several decades of agrarian reform in Honduras resulted in the creation of an important number of agricultural production cooperatives. While agrarian co-operation meets increasing criticism, this book offers a comprehensive appraisal of the internal "rationality" of maintaining the cooperative framework, especially when market and institutional failures persist. Making use of modern transaction costs, economics and contract choice theory, it is demonstrated that operational efficiency and prospects for sustainable land management can still be guaranteed. The author offers a detailed analysis of rules and mechanisms used by cooperative members to enforce transparent contractual arrangements, and indicates several pathways for the consolidation of cooperative enterprises. Major attention is given to access to information, labour monitoring procedures, and payment systems as devices for mutual insurance. The book provides an excellent example of application of the New Institutional Economics approach on rural development issues in Latin America.