The Economics of Agricultural Inputs: Market Formation, Private Sector Licensing, and Demand Forecasting

The topic of this dissertation is the analysis of some key issues of agricultural input markets in a typical context of missing markets in a developing country, that is Mali. Specifically, the three papers composing the dissertation focus on: (i) the analysis of an institutional innovation, the Village Input Fair, and the dynamics of agricultural inputs market formation, with emphasis on the role of market timing, liquidity, and contract structures in facilitating market transactions; (ii) the analysis of the entrepreneurial dynamics of private sector licensing in agricultural input markets, emphasizing the potential of various auction designs as a means of creating new markets; and (iii) demand forecasting for agricultural inputs by smallholder farmers, focusing on the accuracy of their predictions and the socioeconomic factors that shape these expectations.