Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Group-based Funeral Insurance in Ethiopia and Tanzania

Contents:

Author Info

  • Stefan Dercon
  • Tessa Bold
  • Joachim De Weerdt
  • Alula Pankhurst

Abstract

A funeral is a costly occasion. This paper studies indigenous insurance institutions developed to cope with the high costs of funerals, based on evidence from rural areas in Tanzania and Ethiopia. These institutions are based on well-defined rules and regulations, often offering premium-based insurance for funeral expenses. Increasingly, they are also offering other forms of insurance and credit to cope with hardship. The paper argues that the characteristics and inclusiveness of these institutions make them well-placed as models to broaden insurance provision and other developmental activities in these communities. The history of these institutions is characterised by a resistance to attempts of political capture, and helps to understand their apparent resistance to engage more broadly with NGOs and government agencies. As a result, any attempt to expand their activities will have to be done cautiously.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/workingpapers/pdfs/2004-27text.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford in its series CSAE Working Paper Series with number 2004-27.

as in new window
Length:
Date of creation: 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2004-27

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ
Phone: +44-(0)1865 271084
Fax: +44-(0)1865 281447
Email:
Web page: http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords: Risk-Sharing; Insurance; Africa; Ethiopia; Tanzania;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

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.:
as in new window
  1. 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.
  2. Fafchamps, Marcel & Lund, Susan, 2003. "Risk-sharing networks in rural Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 261-287, August.
  3. Robert M. Townsend, . "Risk and Insurance in Village India," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 91-3a, Chicago - Population Research Center.
  4. Mariam, Damen Haile, 2003. "Indigenous social insurance as an alternative financing mechanism for health care in Ethiopia (the case of eders)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1719-1726, April.
  5. Jonathan Morduch, 1995. "Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1727, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  6. Ethan Ligon & Jonathan P. Thomas & Tim Worrall, 2002. "Informal Insurance Arrangements with Limited Commitment: Theory and Evidence from Village Economies," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 209-244.
  7. Robert M. Townsend, 1995. "Consumption Insurance: An Evaluation of Risk-Bearing Systems in Low-Income Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 83-102, Summer.
  8. Ghatak, Maitreesh, 1999. "Group lending, local information and peer selection," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 27-50, October.
  9. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December.
  10. Besley, T., 1993. "Savings, Credit and Insurance," Papers 167, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Development Studies.
  11. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
  12. Grimard, Franque, 1997. "Household consumption smoothing through ethnic ties: evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 391-422, August.
  13. De Weerdt, Joachim, 2002. "Risk-Sharing and Endogenous Network Formation," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  14. Coetzee, Gerhard K. & Cross, Catherine, 2002. "Group Approaches To Financial Service Provision In Rural South Africa," Working Papers 18042, University of Pretoria, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development.
  15. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 2000. "Vulnerability, seasonality and poverty in Ethiopia," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 25-53.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Erlend Berg, 2011. "Funeral insurance," CSAE Working Paper Series 2011-16, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  2. Fafchamps, Marcel & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2011. "Self-Help Groups and Mutual Assistance: Evidence from Urban Kenya," CEPR Discussion Papers 8452, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  3. Patrick Honohan & Thorsten Beck, 2007. "Making Finance Work for Africa," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 6626, April.
  4. Raphael Nawrotzki & Thomas W. Dickinson & Lori Hunter, 2012. "Natural resources and rural livelihoods," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(24), pages 661-700, June.
  5. Jaimovich, Dany, 2011. "Macrostructure and microstructure: Evidence from overlapping village networks in The Gambia," MPRA Paper 38932, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Dercon, Stefan & Hoddinott, John & Krishnan, Pramila & Woldehannnam, Tassew, 2008. "Collective action and vulnerability: Burial societies in rural Ethiopia," CAPRi working papers 83, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  7. Daniel J. Clarke, 2011. "Reinsuring the Poor: Group Microinsurance Design and Costly State Verification," Economics Series Working Papers 573, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  8. Orazio Attanasio & Abigail Barr & Juan Camilo Cardenas & Garance Genicot & Costas Meghir, 2012. "Risk Pooling, Risk Preferences, and Social Networks," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 134-67, April.
  9. Mazzucato, Valentina, 2009. "Informal Insurance Arrangements in Ghanaian Migrants' Transnational Networks: The Role of Reverse Remittances and Geographic Proximity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1105-1115, June.
  10. Hill, Ruth Vargas & Hoddinott, John & Kumar, Neha, 2011. "Adoption of weather index insurance: Learning from willingness to pay among a panel of households in rural Ethiopia," IFPRI discussion papers 1088, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  11. Daniel Clarke & Sefan Dercon, 2009. "Insurance, Credit and Safety Nets for the Poor in a World of Risk," Working Papers 81, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
  12. Deepa Narayan & Lant Pritchett & Soumya Kapoor, 2009. "Moving Out of Poverty : Volume 2. Success from the Bottom Up," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 11838, April.
  13. Christiaensen, Luc & Hoffmann, Vivian & Sarris, Alexander, 2007. "Gauging the welfare effects of shocks in rural Tanzania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4406, The World Bank.
  14. Fabien MOIZEAU & Fernando JARAMILLO & Hubert KEMPF, 2011. "Heterogeneity and the Formation of Risk-Sharing Coalitions," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) 201111, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS.
  15. Bhattamishra, Ruchira & Barrett, Christopher B., 2010. "Community-Based Risk Management Arrangements: A Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 923-932, July.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2004-27

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Richard Payne).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.