IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/umedbu/7518.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Risk, Implicit Contracts and the Family in Rural Areas of Low-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Rosenzweig, Mark R.

Abstract

In this paper the role of family structure in mitigating income volatility in the absence of income insurance in low-income agricultural environments is discussed. Hypotheses concerning the relationship between the membership, size and composition of households and insurance-based income transfers are tested using longitudinal data from India. A test is also performed of whether a household's ability to reduce risk ex post via family arrangements affects its willingness tobear risk ex ante through its selection of formal tenancy contracts. The results support these hypotheses concerning the risk-mitigating roles of both household structure and share contracts, and indicate as well the importance of heterogeneity in risk-aversion across households.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosenzweig, Mark R., 1986. "Risk, Implicit Contracts and the Family in Rural Areas of Low-Income Countries," Bulletins 7518, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:umedbu:7518
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7518/files/edc86-06.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.7518?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, March.
    2. Barnum, Howard N. & Squire, Lyn, 1979. "An econometric application of the theory of the farm-household," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 79-102, February.
    3. Caldwell, John C & Reddy, P H & Caldwell, Pat, 1986. "Periodic High Risk as a Cause of Fertility Decline in a Changing Rural Environment: Survival Strategies in the 1980-1983 South Indian Drought," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(4), pages 677-701, July.
    4. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1985. "A Theory of Contractual Structure in Agriculture," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 352-367, June.
    5. Lucas, Robert E B & Stark, Oded, 1985. "Motivations to Remit: Evidence from Botswana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(5), pages 901-918, October.
    6. Pollak, Robert A, 1985. "A Transaction Cost Approach to Families and Households," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 581-608, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Rosenzweig, Mark R., 1987. "Labor Markets in Low Income Countries: Distortions, Mobility and Migration," Bulletins 7506, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    2. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2859-2939 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Fafchamps, Marcel & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2005. "Assets at marriage in rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 1-25, June.
    4. LaFave, Daniel & Thomas, Duncan, 2017. "Extended families and child well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 52-65.
    5. Frisvold, George B., 2005. "Transaction Costs and Institutional Innovations in Agricultural Labor Contracts," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19495, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Kulic, Nevena, 2013. "The type and duration of family unions and income sharing: The implications for women's economic well-being," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 7-15.
    7. de la Briere, Benedicte & de Janvry, Alain & Lambert, Sylvie & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1997. "Why do migrants remit?," FCND discussion papers 37, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. François-Régis Mahieu, 1989. "Principes économiques et sociétés africaines," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 30(120), pages 725-753.
    9. Schmitt, G., 1996. "The Transition Of Eastern European Agriculture: The Challenge For Agricultural Economists," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 35(4), December.
    10. Robert A. Pollak, 2012. "Allocating Time: Individuals' Technologies, Household Technology, Perfect Substitutes, and Specialization," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 105-106, pages 75-97.
    11. Findeis, Jill L. & Swaminathan, Hema & Jayaraman, Anuja, 2003. "Agricultural Household-Firm Units: Adjustments to Change," Policy Reform and Adjustment Workshop, October 23-25, 2003, Imperial College London, Wye Campus 15738, International Agricultural Policy Reform and Adjustment Project (IAPRAP).
    12. Diane Lye & Daniel Klepinger & Patricia Hyle & Anjanette Nelson, 1995. "Childhood Living Arrangements and Adult Children’s Relations with their Parents," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(2), pages 261-280, May.
    13. Francesconi, Marco & Muthoo, Abhinay, 2003. "An Economic Model of Child Custody," IZA Discussion Papers 857, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Chiara Ludovica Comolli, 2021. "Couples' paid work, state-level unemployment, and first births in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(38), pages 1149-1184.
    15. Robinson, James A. & Srinivasan, T.N., 1993. "Long-term consequences of population growth: Technological change, natural resources, and the environment," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, in: M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1175-1298, Elsevier.
    16. Cheolsung Park, 2014. "Why do children transfer to their parents? Evidence from South Korea," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 461-485, September.
    17. Xu, Zeyu, 2007. "A survey on intra-household models and evidence," MPRA Paper 3763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Paula England & Barbara Stanek Kilbourne, 1990. "Feminist Critiques of the Separative Model of Self," Rationality and Society, , vol. 2(2), pages 156-171, April.
    19. Eleanor R. Fapohunda, 1987. "The Nuclear Household Model in Nigerian Public and Private Sector Policy: Colonial Legacy and Socio‐political Implications," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 281-294, April.
    20. Miriam Steurer, 2009. "Children as Family Public Goods: Some Implications for Fertility," Discussion Papers 2009-04, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    21. Hailin Sun & Sanxi Li & Tong Wang, 2013. "Assortative Matching and Risk Sharing," University of East Anglia Applied and Financial Economics Working Paper Series 041, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics;

    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:ags:umedbu:7518. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dcumnus.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.