Joint liability and adaptation to climate change: evidence from Burkinabe cooperatives

In semi-arid lands, the resilience of farmers facing climate change is uncertain. The main objective of this paper is to explore whether mutual assistance within a group of cotton farmers implies reduced adoption of risk-mitigating strategies. I investigate the case of Burkina Faso where cotton farmers collectively purchase inputs from the cotton wholesale companies and pay for their purchase under the constraint of joint liability. Specifically, I try to understand whether this joint liability is correlated with the adoption of strategies which reduce exposure to climatic risks. I proxy peer pressure by the size of the network and find it to be associated with reduced investment in both incremental and transformational self-protection against weather shocks.