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First Politics, Then Culture: Accounting for Ethnic Differences in Demographic Behavior in Kenya

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  • Alexander A. Weinreb

Abstract

Ethnic differences in demographic behavior tend to be disguised behind analytically opaque labels like “district” or “region,” or else subjected to simplistic cultural explanations. Drawing on new political economy, sociological theory and the political science literature on sub‐Saharan Africa, this article proposes an alternative explanatory model and tests it empirically with reference to Kenya. Access to political power and, through power, access to a state's resources—including resources devoted to clinics, schools, labor opportunities, and other determinants of demographic behavior—are advanced as the key factors underlying ethnic differences. District‐level estimates of “political capital” are introduced and merged with two waves of Demographic and Health Survey data. The effects on models of contraceptive use are explored. Results confirm that measures of political capital explain residual ethnic differences in use, providing strong support for a political approach to the analysis of demographic behavior.

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  • Alexander A. Weinreb, 2001. "First Politics, Then Culture: Accounting for Ethnic Differences in Demographic Behavior in Kenya," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 437-467, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:27:y:2001:i:3:p:437-467
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2001.00437.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti & Khan, Shakeeb & Timmins, Christopher, 2010. "The impact of piped water provision on infant mortality in Brazil: A quantile panel data approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 188-200, July.
    2. Alexander A. Weinreb & Guy Stecklov, 2009. "Social inequality and HIV-testing," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(21), pages 627-646.
    3. Johannes Gräb & Jan Priebe, 2009. "Low Malnutrition but High Mortality: Explaining the Paradox of the Lake Victoria Region," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 185, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Friedman, Willa, 2018. "Corruption and averting AIDS deaths," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 13-25.
    5. Maren Duvendack & Richard Palmer-Jones, 2023. "Colonial Legacies, Ethnicity and Fertility Decline in Kenya: What has Financial Inclusion Got to Do with It?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(5), pages 1028-1058, October.
    6. Shraberman, Kyrill & Weinreb, Alexander A., 2024. "The fiscal consequences of changing demographic composition: Aging and differential growth across Israel’s three major subpopulations," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).

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