Understanding Declining Mobility and Inter-household Transfers among East African Pastoralists

We model inter-household transfers between nomadic livestock herders as the state-dependent consequence of individuals' strategic interdependence, resulting from the existence of multiple, opposing externalities—more specifically, a public-good security externality among individuals sharing a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economica (London) 2009-04, Vol.76 (302), p.315-336
Main Authors: HUYSENTRUYT, MARIEKE, BARRETT, CHRISTOPHER B., McPEAK, JOHN G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altruism
Animal migration behavior
Common good
East Africa
Economic models
Ethnic groups
Externalities
Externality
Food aid
Herding
Herds
Households
Livestock
Pastoralism
Productivity
Public goods
Rain
Social identity
Studies
Transfer
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Summary:We model inter-household transfers between nomadic livestock herders as the state-dependent consequence of individuals' strategic interdependence, resulting from the existence of multiple, opposing externalities—more specifically, a public-good security externality among individuals sharing a social (e.g. ethnic) identity in a potentially hostile environment, and a resource appropriation externality related to the use of common property grazing lands. Our model augments the extant literature on transfers, and is more consistent with the limited available empirical evidence on heterogeneous and changing transfers' patterns among east African pastoralists. The core principles of our model possibly apply more broadly, for example to long-distance migrants or even 'foot soldiers' in street gangs.
ISSN:0013-0427
1468-0335
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00675.x