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Age Set versus Kin: Culture and Financial Ties in East Africa

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Listed:
  • Jacob Moscona
  • Awa Ambra Seck

Abstract

We study how social organization shapes patterns of economic interaction and the effects of national policy, focusing on the distinction between age-based and kin-based groups in sub-Saharan Africa. Motivated by ethnographic accounts suggesting that this distinction affects redistribution, we analyze a cash transfer program in Kenya and find that in age-based societies there are consumption spillovers within the age cohort, but not the extended family, while in kin-based societies we find the opposite. Next, we document that social structure shapes the impact of policy by showing that Uganda's pension program had positive effects on child nutrition only in kin-based societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob Moscona & Awa Ambra Seck, 2024. "Age Set versus Kin: Culture and Financial Ties in East Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(9), pages 2748-2791, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:114:y:2024:i:9:p:2748-91
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211856
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Edoardo Teso, 2019. "The Long-Term Effect of Demographic Shocks on the Evolution of Gender Roles: Evidence from the transatlantic Slave Trade," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 497-534.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pablo Alvarez-Aragon, 2026. "Paths to the Rainforests: Ancestral Beliefs and Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers wp1226, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Kotaro Fujisaki, 2025. "Policy for Closing Education Gaps across Gender and Culture: Tuition-Free Education or School Construction?," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-16, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Oct 2025.
    3. Bogler, Lisa & Cullinan, John & Jockers, Dominik & Pechar, Stefanie, 2025. "A Comment on "Age Set versus Kin: Culture and Financial Ties in East Africa"," I4R Discussion Paper Series 259, The Institute for Replication (I4R).
    4. Yanina Domenella, 2025. "Family: Burden or Support to Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis?," Working Papers wp2025_2529, CEMFI.
    5. Moscona, Jacob & Nunn, Nathan & Robinson, James A., 2026. "Searching for Fish in Trees (緣木求魚)? Economic Development when Context Matters," CEPR Discussion Papers 21124, Centre for Economic Policy Research.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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