IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jid/journl/y2009v18i2p3-15.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cultural Persistence as Behavior Towards Risk: Evidence from the North Carolina Cherokees, 1850-1880

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew T. Gregg

    (Roger Williams University)

Abstract

Can economic theory help explain the persistence of a cultural enclave among the Cherokee Indians living in North Carolina during the nineteenth century? To date, Fogelson and Kutsche (1961) and Finger (1984) have identified the continuation of a communal, labor-sharing, agricultural institution called the gadugi as an example of Cherokee agency during a period of substantial upheaval. I contribute to the historiography on ancestral labor traditions by adopting Kimball’s (1988) framework on the function of farming cooperatives to test whether this arrangement sprung up as a form of insurance against the idiosyncratic risk inherent in southern agriculture. Data collected from the 1850-1880 manuscript census returns on North Carolina Cherokee farms are used to compute the variance of household self-sufficiency, which appears substantial enough to warrant a non-market mechanism to pool risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew T. Gregg, 2009. "Cultural Persistence as Behavior Towards Risk: Evidence from the North Carolina Cherokees, 1850-1880," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 18(2), pages 3-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:jid:journl:y:2009:v:18:i:2:p:3-15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jid.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jid/article/view/23363
    Download Restriction: Some fulltext downloads are only available to subscribers. See JID website for details.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weiman, David F., 1987. "Farmers and the Market in Antebellum America: A View from the Georgia Upcountry," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(3), pages 627-647, September.
    2. Hans P. Binswanger, 1980. "Attitudes Toward Risk: Experimental Measurement in Rural India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 62(3), pages 395-407.
    3. Marcel Fafchamps & John Pender, "undated". "Precautionary Saving Credit Constraints and Investment: Theory and Evidence from Semi-Arid India," Computing in Economics and Finance 1997 37, Society for Computational Economics.
    4. Bogue, Allan G., 1987. "To Their Own Soil: Agriculture in the Antebellum North. By Jeremy Atack and Fred Bateman. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987. Pp. xi, 322. $29.95," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 1050-1051, December.
    5. Kurosaki, Takashi & Fafchamps, Marcel, 2002. "Insurance market efficiency and crop choices in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 419-453, April.
    6. Cain, Louis P., 1992. "General and Miscellaneous - Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel. Edited by Claudia Goldin and Hugh Rockoff. Chicago: The University of ," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 979-982, December.
    7. Kimball, Miles S, 1988. "Farmers' Cooperatives as Behavior Toward Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 224-232, March.
    8. Shively, Gerald E., 1999. "Risks and returns from soil conservation: evidence from low-income farms in the Philippines," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 53-67, August.
    9. Gerald E. Shively, 1999. "Risks and returns from soil conservation: evidence from low‐income farms in the Philippines," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 21(1), pages 53-67, August.
    10. Howard Bodenhorn & Hugh Rockoff, 1992. "Regional Interest Rates in Antebellum America," NBER Chapters, in: Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel, pages 159-187, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Hutchinson, William. K. & Williamson, Samuel, 1971. "The Self-Sufficiency of the Antebellum South: Estimates of the Food Supply," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 591-612, September.
    12. Fenoaltea, Stefano, 1976. "Risk, transaction costs, and the organization of medieval agriculture," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 129-151, April.
    13. Fafchamps, Marcel & Pender, John, 1997. "Precautionary Saving, Credit Constraints, and Irreversible Investment: Theory and Evidence from Semiarid India," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 15(2), pages 180-194, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Richardson, Gary, 2005. "The Prudent Village: Risk Pooling Institutions in Medieval English Agriculture," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(2), pages 386-413, June.
    16. Carlos, Ann M. & Lewis, Frank D., 2001. "Trade, Consumption, And The Native Economy: Lessons From York Factory, Hudson Bay," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 1037-1064, December.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Gregg, Matthew T. & Wishart, David M., 2012. "The price of Cherokee removal," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 423-442.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fafchamps, Marcel & Lund, Susan, 2003. "Risk-sharing networks in rural Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 261-287, August.
    2. Hurley, Terrance M., 2010. "A review of agricultural production risk in the developing world," Working Papers 188476, HarvestChoice.
    3. Måns Söderbom & Catherine Pattillo, 2000. "Managerial Risk Attitudes and Firm Performance in Ghanaian Manufacturing: an Empirical Analysis Based on Experimental Data," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2000-17, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Jonathan P. Thomas & Timothy Worrall, 2002. "Gift-giving, Quasi-credit and Reciprocity," Rationality and Society, , vol. 14(3), pages 308-352, August.
    5. Hasna Khemili & Mounir Belloumi, 2018. "Social Security and Fighting Poverty in Tunisia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Hanan G. Jacoby & Rinku Murgai & Saeed Ur Rehman, 2004. "Monopoly Power and Distribution in Fragmented Markets: The Case of Groundwater," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(3), pages 783-808.
    7. James Roumasset, 2010. "Wither the Economics of Agricultural Development?," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Birthal, Pratap Singh & Nigam, Shyam N. & Narayanan, A.V. & Kareem, K.A., 2012. "Potential Economic Benefits from Adoption of Improved Drought-tolerant Groundnut in India," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 25(1), June.
    9. Ihli, Hanna Julia & Gassner, Anja & Musshoff, Oliver, 2018. "Experimental insights on the investment behavior of small-scale coffee farmers in central Uganda under risk and uncertainty," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 31-44.
    10. Tomomi Tanaka & Colin F Camerer & Quang Nguyen, 2006. "Poverty, politics, and preferences: Field Experiments and survey data from Vietnam," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000001099, UCLA Department of Economics.
    11. Lynn R. Brown & Ugo Gentilini, 2006. "On the Edge: The Role of Food-based Safety Nets in Helping Vulnerable Households Manage Food Insecurity," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-111, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Gine,Xavier & Jacoby,Hanan G. & Gine,Xavier & Jacoby,Hanan G., 2016. "Markets, contracts, and uncertainty in a groundwater economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7694, The World Bank.
    13. Carol Newman & Finn Tarp & Katleen Van Den Broeck, 2014. "Social Capital, Network Effects, and Savings in Rural Vietnam," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 79-99, March.
    14. Dubois, Pierre, 2002. "Consommation, partage de risque et assurance informelle : développements théoriques et tests empiriques récents," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 78(1), pages 115-149, Mars.
    15. Delpierre, Matthieu & Verheyden, Bertrand & Weynants, Stéphanie, 2016. "Is informal risk-sharing less effective for the poor? Risk externalities and moral hazard in mutual insurance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 282-297.
    16. Oo, Alex & Toth, Russell, 2014. "Do community-sanctioned social pressures constrain microenterprise growth? Evidence from a framed field experiment," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 75-95.
    17. Renaud Bourlès & Dominique Henriet, 2012. "Risk-sharing Contracts with Asymmetric Information," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 27-56, March.
    18. 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.
    19. Jonathan Colmer, 2013. "Climate Variability, Child Labour and Schooling: Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margin," GRI Working Papers 132, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    20. Ruben, Ruerd & Pender, John, 2004. "Rural diversity and heterogeneity in less-favoured areas: the quest for policy targeting," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 303-320, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    risk behaviour; Cherokee Indians; self-sufficiency; technical efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • N51 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jid:journl:y:2009:v:18:i:2:p:3-15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Timm Boenke (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gyorkca.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.