IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mts/wpaper/201005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Analysis of the Household Economy and Expenditure Patterns of a Traditional Pastoralist Society in Southern Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Wassie Berhanu
  • Bichaka Fayissa

Abstract

Some key features of the Borana household economy are explored in the changing context of growing pastoralist exposure to the exchange system. Despite past commercialization efforts, the pastoral economy has largely remained unmonetized. The average cattle off-take rate is found to be well below 10% for the sample Borana households of which only 11% of the household off-take decisions were made for the primary purpose of financing non-pastoral business. Such decisions are largely made by the actual conditions of life principally associated with the need to procure cereal grains and meeting other basic needs. The analysis of household expenditure patterns reveals income diversity as a key determinant of the growing importance of "imported" items in pastoral household budgets. The apparent elastic demand for stimulants in this connection is a critical matter for local actions in the context of eroding traditional values.

Suggested Citation

  • Wassie Berhanu & Bichaka Fayissa, 2010. "Analysis of the Household Economy and Expenditure Patterns of a Traditional Pastoralist Society in Southern Ethiopia," Working Papers 201005, Middle Tennessee State University, Department of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:mts:wpaper:201005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://capone.mtsu.edu/berc/working/Borana%20Pastoralism_2_5_2010WP.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Krishnan Pramila, 1998. "Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 501299, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    2. Clements, Kenneth W & Selvanathan, Saroja, 1994. "Understanding Consumption Patterns," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 69-110.
    3. Delgado, Christopher L. & Hopkins, Jane & Kelly , Valerie & Hazell, P. B. R. & McKenna, Anna A. & Gruhn, Peter & Hojjati, Behjat & Sil, Jayashree & Courbois, Claude, 1998. "Agricultural growth linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa:," Research reports 107, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Cossins, Noel J. & Upton, Martin, 1987. "The Borana pastoral system of Southern Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 199-218.
    5. Wassie Berhanu & David Colman & Bichaka Fayissa, 2007. "Diversification and livelihood sustainability in a semi-arid environment: A case study from southern Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 871-889.
    6. Hazell, P. B. R. & Roell, Ailsa, 1983. "Rural growth linkages: household expenditure patterns in Malaysia and Nigeria," Research reports 41, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. M. H. Doran & A. R. C. Low & R. L. Kemp, 1979. "Cattle as a Store of Wealth in Swaziland: Implications for Livestock Development and Overgrazing in Eastern and Southern Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 61(1), pages 41-47.
    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. Christian Rogg, 2006. "Asset Portfolios in Africa: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, 2000. "Food policy research for developing countries: emerging issues and unfinished business," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 125-141, April.
    3. Catherine Porter, 2012. "Shocks, Consumption and Income Diversification in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 1209-1222, September.
    4. Victor Nechifor & Ole Boysen & Emanuele Ferrari & Kidanemariam Hailu & Mohammed Beshir, 2020. "COVID-19: socioeconomic impacts and recovery in Ethiopia," JRC Research Reports JRC122405, Joint Research Centre.
    5. L. ALAN WINTERS & NEIL McCULLOCH & ANDREW McKAY, 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Poverty: The Evidence So Far," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Non-Tariff Barriers, Regionalism and Poverty Essays in Applied International Trade Analysis, chapter 14, pages 271-314, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Jayne, T. S. & Yamano, Takashi & Weber, Michael T. & Tschirley, David & Benfica, Rui & Chapoto, Antony & Zulu, Ballard, 2003. "Smallholder income and land distribution in Africa: implications for poverty reduction strategies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 253-275, June.
    7. Xavier Vollenweider, 2014. "A simple framework for the estimation of climate exposure," GRI Working Papers 158, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    8. Stephen C. Smith & Sungil Kwak, 2011. "Multidimensional Poverty and Interlocking Poverty Traps: Framework and Application to Ethiopian Household Panel Data," Working Papers 2011-04, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    9. Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen & Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen & Nicolas Gerber & Nicolas Gerber, 2016. "Aspirations and income, food security and subjective well-being in rural Ethiopia," FOODSECURE Working papers 51, LEI Wageningen UR.
    10. Gao, Jianfeng & Mills, Bradford F., 2018. "Weather Shocks, Coping Strategies, and Consumption Dynamics in Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 268-283.
    11. Neil McCulloch & C. Peter Timmer & Julian Weisbrod, 2007. "Pathways Out of Poverty During an Economic Crisis: An Empirical Assessment of Rural Indonesia," Working Papers 115, Center for Global Development.
    12. Tadesse Kuma & Mekdim Dereje & Kalle Hirvonen & Bart Minten, 2019. "Cash Crops and Food Security: Evidence from Ethiopian Smallholder Coffee Producers," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1267-1284, June.
    13. Bogale, Ayalneh & Hagedorn, Konrad & Korf, Benedikt, 2003. "Why Does Poverty Persist In Rural Ethiopia?," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25857, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Hagos, Hosaena Ghebru & Holden, Stein, 2013. "Links between tenure security and food security: Evidence from Ethiopia:," IFPRI discussion papers 1288, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Yonas Alem & Gunnar Köhlin, 2014. "The Impact of Food Price Inflation on Subjective Well-being: Evidence From Urban Ethiopia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 853-868, May.
    16. Azomahou T.T. & Yitbarek E., 2015. "Poverty persistence and informal risk management: Micro evidence from urban Ethiopia," MERIT Working Papers 2015-006, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    17. Agus Surachman & Hartoyo, 2015. "Parental Investment and Poverty Dynamics in West Java, Indonesia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 340-352, September.
    18. Mellor, John W., 2014. "High rural population density Africa – What are the growth requirements and who participates?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 66-75.
    19. Wei Zou & Fen Zhang & Ziyin Zhuang & Hairong Song, 2008. "Transport Infrastructure, Growth, and Poverty Alleviation: Empirical Analysis of China," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 9(2), pages 345-371, November.
    20. Seetanah, B. & Ramessur, S. & Rojid, S., 2009. "Does Infrastructure Alleviates Poverty in Developing Countries?," International Journal of Applied Econometrics and Quantitative Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(2).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pastoralism; Household expenditure; Borana; Ethiopia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:mts:wpaper:201005. 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: Benjamin Jansen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efmtsus.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.