SDGs, Social Responsibility, Institutions and Cooperatives: Evidence from the Handloom Weaving Sector in India

The purpose of this study is to establish linkages between sustainable development goals, social responsibility, institutions and cooperatives by developing a comparison, both theoretically and empirically, between cooperatives and non-cooperatives. In order to develop the theoretical underpinnings, post-Williamsonian transaction cost economics (TCE) has been selected as the theoretical framework. For the empirical analysis, a primary survey has been conducted in two prominent handloom hubs of West Bengal spanning over two districts of the state. A binomial logistic regression has been performed in order to analyse the data collected from the weavers of two different institutions—a master weaver institution and a cooperative institution. Following the post-Williamsonian TCE framework, it has been theoretically shown that the cooperative institution is more efficient in implementing the government’s welfare schemes. The result of the empirical analysis shows that education and distance from the cooperative institution are significant variables that help in the effective implementation of the government’s welfare schemes.