This dissertation research project will study agricultural cooperatives in Ecuador. The project will compare two cooperatives, one in which the planning is done cooperatively by the farmers and the higher level officials who they deal with (the "bottom up" approach) , and another in which the higher officials do not set up two-way information channels with the subject farmers (the "top- down" approach). The purpose of the research is to assess the strength of these two approaches to cooperative function in predicting the economic success of the cooperative in a region where indigenous cooperation is an old practice.
