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Kin Groups and Reciprocity: A Model of Credit Transactions in Ghana

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La Ferrara, Eliana

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Abstract

This Paper studies kinship-band networks as capital market institutions. It explores two of the channels through which membership in a community where individuals are genealogically linked, such as a kin group, can affect their access to informal credit. The first is that incentives to default are lower for community members who can expect retaliation to fall on their offspring as well as on themselves (social enforcement). The second is that lenders prefer to lend to those members from whom they can expect reciprocation in the form of future loans for themselves or for their children (reciprocity). The possibility to engage in reciprocal transactions affects the terms of the loans in nontrivial ways. The social enforcement and reciprocity effects are incorporated in an overlapping generations repayment game with endogenous matching between lenders and borrowers, and are tested using household-level data from Ghana.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3705.

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Date of creation: Feb 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3705

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Related research
Keywords: informal credit kinship reciprocity social norm

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
O16 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment
O17 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Guinnane, Timothy W., 1999. "The economics of lending with joint liability: theory and practice," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 195-228, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Smith, Lones, 1992. "Folk theorems in overlapping generations games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 426-449, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Coate, Stephen & Ravallion, Martin, 1993. "Reciprocity without commitment : Characterization and performance of informal insurance arrangements," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-24, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Collier, Paul & Garg, Ashish, 1999. " On Kin Groups and Wages in the Ghanaian Labour Market," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(2), pages 133-51, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Fafchamps, Marcel, 2000. "Ethnicity and credit in African manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 205-235, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Udry, Christopher, 1994. "Risk and Insurance in a Rural Credit Market: An Empirical Investigation in Northern Nigeria," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 495-526, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Kenneth M. Kletzer & Brian D. Wright, 2000. "Sovereign Debt as Intertemporal Barter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 621-639, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Posner, Richard A, 1980. "A Theory of Primitive Society, with Special Reference to Law," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 1-53, April.
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  10. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2001. "Imperfect Commitment, Altruism, And The Family: Evidence From Transfer Behavior In Low-Income Rural Areas," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 389-407, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1995. "Group lending, repayment incentives and social collateral," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-18, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Ethan Ligon & Jonathan P. Thomas & Tim Worrall, 2000. "Mutual Insurance, Individual Savings and Limited Commitment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(2), pages 216-246, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Greif, Avner, 1993. "Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 525-48, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Nonmarket Institutions for Credit and Risk Sharing in Low-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 115-27, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Kandori, Michihiro, 1992. "Repeated Games Played by Overlapping Generations of Players," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 59(1), pages 81-92, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Ligon, Ethan & Thomas, Jonathan P & Worrall, Tim, 2002. "Informal Insurance Arrangements with Limited Commitment: Theory and Evidence from Village Economies," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 69(1), pages 209-44, January.
  17. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1992. "Solidarity Networks in Preindustrial Societies: Rational Peasants with a Moral Economy," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 147-74, October.
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano, 2007. "The Power of the Family," IZA Discussion Papers 2750, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Zekeriya Eser & Joe Peek, 2006. "Reciprocity and Network Coordination: Evidence from Japanese Banks," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d05-157, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  3. Do, Q-T & Iyer, S. & Joshi, S., 2006. "The Economics of Consanguinity," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0653, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  4. Karlan, Dean S., 2007. "Social Connections and Group Banking," CEPR Discussion Papers 6194, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. La Ferrara, Eliana, 2007. "Descent Rules and Strategic Transfers. Evidence from Matrilineal Groups in Ghana," CEPR Discussion Papers 6111, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina, 2007. "Microfinance and Investment: a Comparison with Bank and Informal Lending," Working Papers 20070401, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Statistica, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
  7. Jacoby, Hanan G. & Mansuri, Ghazala, 2007. "Watta satta : bride exchange and women ' s welfare in rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4126, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2004. "Shame and Ostracism: Union Army Deserters Leave Home," NBER Working Papers 10425, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2004. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," NBER Working Papers 10313, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Burger, Ronelle & Booysen, Frikkie & Van der Berg, Servaas & Von Maltitz, Michael, 2006. "Marketable Wealth in a Poor African Country," MPRA Paper 9063, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  11. Carmona, Guilherme, 2006. "On the Optimality of the Equality Matching Form of Sociality," FEUNL Working Paper Series wp489, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia. [Downloadable!]
  12. Karen Macours & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2004. "Insecurity of Property Rights and Matching in the Tenancy Market," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 992, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
  13. Do, Quy-Toan & Iyer, Sriya & Joshi, Shareen, 2006. "The economics of consanguineous marriages," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4085, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  14. Kurt Annen, 2005. "Economic Returns to Social Capital in the Urban Informal Sector in Developing Countries: Micro Evidence from Small Textile Producers in Bolivia," Development and Comp Systems 0511011, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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